Sumo wrestler throwing handfuls of salt into the ring as an act of purification. Sumo has close asociations with the Shinto religion with fights taking place beneath a symbolic Shinto-style roof.

Sagimori Shrine. Bugaku has been preserved for over a thousand years by courtiers of the Imperial Palace normally performed exclusively by men these girls dressed in traditional yellow costume are...

Sagimori Shrine. Bugaku has been preserved for over a thousand years by courtiers of the Imperial Palace normally performed exclusively by men these girls dressed in traditional yellow costume are...

Cuiva Indian hunter one of a hitherto uncontacted group in Llanos grasslands bordering rivers Agua Clara & Casanare with macana wood bow bamboo arrows and beaten bark-cloth guayuko loincloth.By 20...

Young Embera daughters of the household painting their bodies with black dye extracted from the indedible Jagua fruit in preparation for curing ceremony - their mother has fever Pacific coastal regio...

Ika man in traditional dress helmet of woven cactus fibre hand woven wool&cotton manta cloak and trousers.Holds his poporo small gourd containing powdered lime. He inserts the powdered lime into a w...

Cropped detail of Ika man holding a poporo small gourd containing finely powdered lime.Ika men can spend hours rubbing their gourds with their palitos small sticks in ceremonies in conversation or in...

Barasana woman Paulina headman Boscos sister making clay cooking pot. Note the larger fired pot behind her. A fine potter whose death has marked the virtual extinction of pottery-making amongst the...

Barasana woman Paulina the headman Boscos sister making clay pot.Her death has marked the virtual extinction of pottery-making amongst the Barasana. Tukano sedentary Indian tribe North Western Amaz...

The 2nd Century BC drain cover Bocca della Verite or Mouth of Truth mounted ona wall at the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. A female hand is pulled away from the mouth where tradition has it the ja...

Vatican City Museum Part of the reconstruction of Hadrians Villa Tivoli showing the 2nd Century white marble Statue of the god Anubis lord of mummification who guided the dead to the underworld h...

No-Gonbad Mosque Mosque of Nine Cupolas also known as Khoja Piada or Masjid-e Haji Piyada Mosque of the Walking Pilgrim Carved stucco decoration on columnDates to the early 9th Century A.D. Earl...