Women are reflected on silver panels of the French luxury brand Louis Vuitton flagship store at the Central Business District in Beijing, Wednesday, March 6, 2019. China will bar government authorities from demanding overseas companies hand over technology secrets in exchange for market share, a top economic official said Wednesday, addressing a key complaint at the heart of the current China-U.S. trade dispute. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)

A woman visits St Savior in Chora church, known as Kariye in Turkish, in Istanbul, Friday, August 21, 2020. Turkey on Friday formally converted former Byzantine church, St Savior in Chora, into a mosque, a month after it similarly turned Istanbul's landmark Hagia Sophia into a Muslim house of prayer, drawing international rebuke. (Photo by Emrah Gurel/AP Photo)

“Mehndi or menhdi is the application of henna as a temporary form of skin decoration in India, as well as by expatriate communities from the country. The word mehndi is derived from the Sanskrit word mendhikā. The use of mehndi and turmeric is described in the earliest Vedic ritual books. Haldi (Staining oneself with turmeric paste) as well as mehndi are important Vedic customs as a symbolic representation of the Outer and the Inner Sun. Vedic customs are meant to awaken the “inner light” and so the gold of the inner Sun has an important symbolic function”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Application of henna or “Mehndi” to a girls hand in a market on October 18, 2010 in Jaipur, India. (Photo by Simon de Trey-White/Getty Images)

Visitors wearing traditional hanbok dresses are seen on the grounds of Gyeongbokgung Palace amid heavy snowfall in central Seoul on November 27, 2024. South Korea's capital was blanketed on November 27 by the heaviest November snowfall since records began over a century ago, the weather agency said. (Photo by Anthony Wallace/AFP Photo)

Male members of the Zeleziar folk dance group whip and water the local girls dressed in traditional clothing, during Easter in Bociar, Slovakia on April 1, 2024. Boys and younger men visit the houses of young girls, whip them with fresh-cut decorated wickers and sprinkle water on them. By tradition, the whipping should give the girls strength, health, and abundance throughout the whole year. (Photo by Robert Nemeti/Anadolu via Getty Images)

When Colin Garratt went to photograph the traditional sentinels of the British countryside, he found they ranged from the dapper to the downright sinister. “They are not from the anaesthetised world of the craft fair”, says Colin Garratt, “but are the direct descendants of the ancient spectres which have haunted the landscape for centuries”. The Scarecrow Exhibition is at Geddes Gallery, London, from 25 to 30 March. (Photo by Colin Garratt)

A history enthusiast, dressed as a soldier, marches before the re-enactment of Napoleon's famous battle of Austerlitz near the southern Moravian town of Slavkov u Brna, Czech Republic December 3, 2016. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)

Rapper Future attends his “Future City” Birthday Party at Magic City on November 20, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Prince Williams/Wireimage)