Hooded torch bearers lead the winter procession through the snow on February 4, 2012 in Huddersfield, England. Imbolc is a pagan festival that marks the half way point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Imbolc festivals celebrates the awakening of the land and the growing power of the Sun. (Photo by Bethany Clarke/Getty Images)

People pray inside a temple at the Janmashtami Hindu Festival at Bhaktivedanta Manor on August 22, 2011 in Watford, England. Up to 72,000 were expected to take part in the two day festival celebrating the birth of Krishna, in what is believed to be the largest Hindu festival gathering outside of India. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

General view of “Marie Claire” Magazine Film Exhibition at Oquendo street during 59th San Sebastian Film Festival on September 22, 2011 in San Sebastian, Spain. (Photo by Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images)

Sister Milly Wu (16) and Chloe Wu (18), both students from Manchester pose for photographs at the Hyper Japan 2012 Event at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre on February 24, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images)

Revelers celebrate the Indian festival of Holi on a boat cruise around part of Manhattan on March 17, 2012 in New York City. During the Hindu festival of Holi, also known as the Festival of Colors, which marks the arrival of spring, participants throw colored powder and water on one another. Many of the New York participants are Indian-American. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Gothic enthusiast poses during the annual Wave-Gotik-Treffen music festival on May 26, 2012 in Leipzig, Germany. The event began in the 1990s and has since grown into one of the biggest gatherings of Goth scene followers in Europe with around 20,000 participants. (Photo by Adam Berry)

Yulin, a city in southern China, celebrates the summer solstice by throwing a festival that involves the slaughter and consumption of as many as 10,000 dogs. Not everyone in China supports such practices, however; 65-year-old Yang Xiaoyun, a retired teacher who runs an animal shelter in Tianjin, traveled more than 2,400 km (1,500 miles) and spent more than 7,000 yuan ($1,100 or €990) to save 100 dogs from certain death.

Doesn’t taking a nap in a hammock outdoors sound lovely? Perhaps not when you’re hanging in the air, thousands of feet above ground, between two mountains in the Italian Alps! Which is exactly what these adventurous folks did during the International Highline Meeting in Monte Piana, Italy. (Photo by Sebastian Wahlhuetter Photography)