Women soldiers dance during a parade marking the 78th anniversary of the Indonesian Armed Forces in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, October 5, 2023. (Photo by Tatan Syuflana/AP Photo)

The body of one of several U.S. soldiers who were executed after being captured by North Korean troops just south of Seoul in early July 1950. (Photo by AP Photo)

Brazilian navy soldiers watch a woman as they patrol the area at the Copacabana Beach before carnival festivities in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil February 14, 2017. (Photo by Sergio Moraes/Reuters)

People dressed as Hungarian Hussars fire a cannon during re-enactment of the battle against Austrian soldiers of the Habsburg dynasty in Tapiobicske, Hungary April 4, 2016. (Photo by Laszlo Balogh/Reuters)

A Mexican soldier burns coca plants in the mountainous area of Atoyac de Alvarez, Guerrero state, Mexico, on February 15, 2023. (Photo by Francisco Robles/AFP Photo)

Ukrainian soldiers who just came from battle stand near an ambulance at a 47th Brigade field hospital near Avdiivka, in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, on Friday, May 10, 2024. (Photo by Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo)

We are all drawn to fire, entranced by its beauty and ferociousness. Its brilliance draws us in like moths to a candle flame. Thus, many of the celebrations that humans have involve lighting fires. They can be big or small; there could be many little lights or one giant inferno; they may float on water, burn on land, or rise high into the skies. Loi Krathong is a festival that is held each year in Thailand and a number of other places. During this festival thousands of little fires are lighted, presenting a marvelous sight for all the onlookers. It is believed that this tradition is an adaptation of Brahmanical festival, which was adopted by Thai Buddhists to honor Buddha.

American soldiers with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Battle Company, on a battalion-wide mission in the Korengal Valley, looking for caves, weapons caches and known Taliban leaders, 2007. Tanner Stichter tends to Spc. Carl Vandeberge in the bushes moments after Vandeberge was shot in the stomach during a Taliban ambush, which killed one soldier and wounded two others. (Photo by Lynsey Addario)