An Indian man stands dressed like Hindu god Shiva to attract alms from devotees during the Ambubasi festival at the Kamakhya Hindu temple in Gauhati, India, Sunday, June 22, 2014. The annual festival where hundreds of holy men from an esoteric form of Hinduism, gather to perform rituals at the temple begins on June 22. (Photo by Anupam Nath/AP Photo)

A local resident dressed as Yamraj or Hindu god of death, wearing a novel coronavirus-themed balloon necklace, gestures as he poses during an awareness about social distancing and staying at home organised by Delhi police during a nationwide lockdown to slow the spreading of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in New Delhi, India, April 28, 2020. (Photo by Adnan Abidi/Reuters)

A Syrian boy plays with the head of a sacrificed sheep at a DIP camp for Interally Displaced Persons near the town of Aqrabat in Syria's northern Idlib province on August 12, 2019. Known as the “big” festival, Eid Al-Adha is celebrated each year by Muslims sacrificing various animals according to religious traditions, including cows, camels, goats and sheep. The festival marks the end of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and commemorates Prophet Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son to show obedience to God. (Photo by Aaref Watad/AFP Photo)

Believers bathe in the icy water during a traditional Epiphany at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Ostankino near TV Tower in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, January 18, 2023. Across Russia, the devout and the daring are observing the Orthodox Christian feast day of Epiphany by immersing themselves in frigid water through holes cut through the ice of lakes and rivers. Epiphany celebrates the revelation of Jesus Christ as the incarnation of God through his baptism in the River Jordan. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

A boy sits next to sacrificial goats resting during Eid al-Adha in New Delhi, India, 29 June 2023. Muslims around the world celebrate Eid al-Adha or feast of sacrifice, by slaughtering sheep, goats and cows to commemorate Prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail at God's command. (Photo by Harish Tyagi/EPA)

Tip Toland is a sculptor and instructor living in the Seattle, Washington area. Her current focus is figurative ceramic sculpture. Tip is represented by the Nancy Margolis Gallery in New York City.

Photo: “Letter to God”, 2011. Stoneware, paint, chalk pastel, hair. (Photo by Tip Toland/Marie-Andrée Côté)

Mask dancers take part in a parade during the the International Festival of Masquerade Games “Surva” in the town of Pernik, some 30 km from Sofia, Bulgaria, 27 January 2019. In ancient times the old Thracians held the Kukeri Ritual Games in honor of god Dionysus – known as a god of wine and ecstasy. Even today these games are also known as the Dionysus' games. Among the Kukeri dancers' are many characters, including Dionysus and his satyrs as well as others from deep history such as the tsar, harachari, plyuvkachi, startzi, and pesyatzi. (Photo by Vassil Donev/EPA/EFE)

An Indian artist gives the finishing touches to a figure of the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha at a workshop ahead of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in New Delhi on September 15, 2015. The idol is meant for the forthcoming festival Ganesha Chaturthi, a ten-day long event which is celebrated all over India. During the Ganpati festival, that is celebrated as the birthday of Lord Ganesha, idols of the Hindu deity are worshipped at hundreds of pandals or makeshift tents before they are immersed into water bodies. This year, the festival starts on 17 September 2015. (Photo by Sajjad Hussain/AFP Photo)