The festival marks the end of the monsoon season and beginning of autumn. More than hundred girls under the age of nine gathered for the tradition of worshiping young pre-pubescent girls as manifestations of the divine female energy. The ritual holds a strong religious significance in Newar community. It is a community affair held primarily to save small girls from diseases and bad luck in the years to come. Photo: A young Nepalese girl dressed as a Kumari or living Goddess, smiles for camera as she waits for Kumari puja at Hanuman Dhoka, Basantapur Durbar Square in Katmandu, Nepal, Tuesday, September 17, 2013. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)

Members of a teenage girl gang convincing an unwilling recruit to join the gang, circa 1955. (Photo by Vecchio/Three Lions)

A girl smiles during the celebration of Holi at the Art Department of the University of Dhaka in Dhaka, Bangladesh on March 8, 2023. (Photo by Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters)

Bad Christmas gift makes the pretty girl look disappointed in x-mas time under the christmas tree. (Photo by pixelrain/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Czech fishermen sort fish during the traditional Carp haul at Lake of Dvoriste near Smrzov village, Czech Republic, 02 November 2015. Carp, the traditional Czech Christmas Eve dinner, is harvested primarly from the region of southern Bohemian lakes. (Photo by Filip Singer/EPA)

A fisherman carries a silver carp during a traditional fish haul at the Horusicky pond near the town of Veseli nad Luznici, Czech Republic, Tuesday, October 24, 2017. Each autumn, Czech fishermen get to serious business of a century-long tradition of catching carp for Christmas markets. Southern Bohemia, where the Horusicky pond is located, with its elaborate network of ponds is at the center of the local carp universe. (Photo by Petr David Josek/AP Photo)

Teeming with images of spectacular underwater scenes from around the world, Call of the Blue is the culmination of a five-year project by the photographer and ocean conservationist Philip Hamilton. This groundbreaking book includes contributions from acclaimed scientists and ocean “guardians”, who reveal what drove them to answer the call of the blue. (Photo by Philip Hamilton/The Guardian)

Listed as endangered on the IUCN red list of threatened species, a humphead wrasse, or Napoleon fish, swims in an aquarium during an event in Tokyo's shopping district of Ginza on August 5, 2019. (Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP Photo)