People shop at a market ahead of the Lunar New Year in Hong Kong on February 6, 2024 ahead of the Lunar New Year of the Dragon which falls on February 10. (Photo by Peter Parks/AFP Photo)

Actors Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, fashion model Gigi Hadid and Hugh Jackman attend the premiere of “Deadpool and Wolverine” in New York City, New York, U.S., July 22, 2024. (Photo by Caitlin Ochs/Reuters)

A purple haze of heather as the sun rises over the New Forest near Lyndhurst, Hampshire in UK on July 28, 2025. (Photo by Steve Hogan/Bournemouth News)

Singer Beyonce arrives at TIDAL X: 1020 Amplified by HTC at the Barclays Center on Tuesday, October 20, 2015, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP Photo)

Women joke around as they pose for photographs in front of a large dragon made of flowers at the Sentosa Flowers festival on January 22, 2012 on Sentosa Island, Singapore. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Capturing the true essence of Christmas, Lapland is the perfect place to take your family for the holiday period. Situated in the arctic regions of northern Sweden, Finland and Norway, there are a villages in each country around where you can enjoy the full festive experience.

A Japanese girl poses in a costume at a Chara Fes (character festival) event on October 26, 2003 in Tokyo. Cosplay (costume play) is becoming popular among Japanese youths, whereby participants dress up as their favourite characters from comics, computer games and animation. (Photo by Junko Kimura/Getty Images)

“Kumbh Mela is a mass Hindu pilgrimage in which Hindus gather at the Ganges river. The normal Kumbh Mela is celebrated every 3 years, the Ardh (half) Kumbh Mela is celebrated every six years at Haridwar and Prayag, the Purna (complete) Kumbh takes place every twelve years, at four places (Prayag (Allahabad), Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik). The Maha (great) Kumbh Mela which comes after 12 “Purna Kumbh Melas”, or 144 years, is held at Allahabad.

The last Ardh Kumbh Mela was held over a period of 45 days beginning in January 2007, more than 70 million Hindu pilgrims took part in the Ardh Kumbh Mela at Prayag, and on January 15, the most auspicious day of the festival of Makar Sankranti, more than 5 million participated. The previous Maha Kumbh Mela, held in 2001, was attended by around 60 million people, making it at the time the largest gathering anywhere in the world in recorded history”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Sadhus (holy men) smoke at their camp near the ritual site at Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers during the Ardh Kumbh Mela festival (Half Pitcher festival) January 18, 2007 in Allahabad, India. Millions of Hindu pilgrims have flocked to the largest religious gathering in the world which lasts for 45 days in northern India. The festival commemorates the mythical conflict between gods and demons over a pitcher filled with the “nectar of immortality”. Devotees believe that taking a holy dip in the Ganges at this time washes away their sins and paves the path to salvation. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)