A girl yawns as she and others wait for the start of their first day in school, an occasion known as the Day of Knowledge, in the small town Ignalina, some 110km (68 miles) north of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Monday, September 2, 2019. (Photo by Mindaugas Kulbis/AP Photo)
Villagers take part in Kolyada holiday celebrations in the village of Martsiyanauka, east of the capital Minsk, January 21, 2015. Local residents took part in the celebrations to mark the end of a pagan winter holiday Kolyada, which over the centuries has merged with Orthodox Christmas celebrations. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)
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)
Huge pack of starlings in the sky of the Negev, Israel, on January 21, 2013. Birds are turned in evening twilight before settling to sleep. (Photo by Eliyahu Hershkovitz)