The Kazakhs are the descendants of Turkic, Mongolic and Indo-Iranian tribes and Huns that populated the territory between Siberia and the Black Sea. They are a semi-nomadic people and have roamed the mountains and valleys of western Mongolia with their herds since the 19th century. The ancient art of eagle hunting is one of many traditions and skills that the Kazakhs have, in recent decades, been able to hold on to. They rely on their clan and herds, believing in pre-Islamic cults of the sky, the ancestors, fire and the supernatural forces of good and evil spirits.

A man lies on the floor during a ritual at the Sorte Mountain on the outskirts of Chivacoa, in the state of Yaracuy, Venezuela October 10, 2015. One long night every year in a mountainous rainforest in Venezuela, hundreds gather to dance on red-hot embers, enter trance-like states, and worship an ancient goddess known as Maria Lionza. Those who travel to the mountain known as Sorte in central Venezuela are practitioners of a cult that is built on local indigenous traditions. (Photo by Marco Bello/Reuters)

Igor Gavrilov, the main taxidermist of the Zoological centre at Tel Aviv University, works on a taxidermied animal, part of a collection which will be housed at the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, a new Israeli natural history museum set to open next year in Tel Aviv, Israel June 8, 2016. Legions of insects, sea creatures and ancient fossils are lining up in a new museum shaped liked a giant Noah's Ark, telling the story of a crucial evolutionary byway across Israel. (Photo by Nir Elias/Reuters)

Twin brothers Keith (L) and Deano Stapleton (R) interact with one another as people gather to witness the winter solstice on December 21, 2022 in Newgrange, Ireland. Crowds are gathering at Newgrange in Co Meath, this morning for the winter solstice – the astronomical phenomenon that marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. Newgrange is a Stone Age (Neolithic) monument in the Boyne Valley, County Meath, it is the jewel in the crown of Ireland's Ancient East and was constructed approximately 5,200 years ago (3,200 B.C.) which makes it older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids of Giza. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Labourers stack dried bricks inside a kiln, where they will be fired, at a brick factory on the outskirt of Sanaa, Yemen, June 1, 2016. Traditional mud brick tower houses have always been a source of pride to Yemenis, and over a year into a devastating civil war, they are also providing some much-needed jobs in the ancient capital Sanaa. (Photo by Mohamed al-Sayaghi/Reuters)

Two holy men with a decorative faces and headdresses, taken in Kathmandu, Nepal. Wandering through the cities and forests of Nepal are the holy men, or Sadhus, who have left all materialistic pleasures behind to live a life devoted to God. Their appearances vary from brightly coloured face paints, and decorations, to minimalistic practical clothing, but they all represent the fundamental values and meanings of Hinduism. Danish photographer Jan Moeller Hansen visited the ancient capital city of Kathmandu between 2013 and 2016 and documented the mysterious holy wanderers. (Photo by Jan Moeller Hansen/Barcroft Images)

Beltane Fire Society performers celebrate the coming of summer by participating in the Beltane Fire Festival on Calton Hill April 30, 2019 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The event celebrates the ending of winter and is a revival of the ancient Celtic and Pagan festival of Beltane, the Gaelic name for the month of May. This years festival was highlighting climate change, with the central character The May Queen being seen to express her rage at the damage done to Earth. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)