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  • Madru, who is nicknamed Dru is a Brahmin priest who spends most of his time hanging out at the Varanasi burning ghats explaining the ritual aspects of the cremation site to tourists and journalists alike. Sometimes he is given cash presents in exchange for the information. When he or another Brahmin priest assists at a cremation, he works as a guide as well for the chief mourner, who must follow a prescribed ritual to ensure the proper send off for the loved one. Brahmins are given gifts by the mourning family throughout the ritual process, which begins at home when a Hindu dies and continues for many months and then yearly. 
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  • Male family members carry a body to the edge of the Ganges River for a final ritual dip before cremation at the Harishchandra Ghat in Varansi, India. Other fires burn bodies that have already had their cremation ritual.
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  • The clay Kumbha (water pot) has a special significance in the Hindu cremation ritual. It is blessed in the early stages of the ritual and then, most often during the series of rituals designed to ensure the proper path in death for a loved one, the Kumbha is carried by a mourner three times around the burning body then dropped (and it breaks).
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  • Male family members perform the rituals of Hindu cremation at the Harishchandra Ghat on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India. Other fires burn bodies that have already had their cremation ritual. The Harishchandra Ghat (also known as the Harish Chandra Ghat) is the smaller and more ancient of the two primary cremation grounds in Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges River. An electric crematorium opened at the site in 1986 but had technical problems and never caught on. The method of cremation by wood fire is steeped in tradition and still favored.
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  • IND_040417_239_x<br />
Peter Menzel photographing at Manikarnika Ghat on the Ganges River in Varanasi India. The Bodies arrive day and night from far and near to be cremated at Jalasi Ghat, the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat. One hundred or more times a day male family members carry a loved one’s body through the narrow streets on a bamboo litter to the Ganges River shore—a place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death. Not every Hindu can be cremated here, because of transportation costs and logistical considerations. Sometimes a body is burned in one location and the ashes brought to Varanasi. There are other rivers in India, such as the Shipra which flows through the sacred city of Ujjain, that are considered sacred as well, but none holds the importance of the Ganges. Sometimes a small dummy representing the person will be burned at Jalasi.<br />
Only male family members are present and tend to the bodies at the cremation site as no show of emotion is allowed and also, they don’t want any of them jumping onto the fire, says one manager at the ghat. The body is carried to the water’s edge for a last dip, and then the main mourner prepares for his role in the ritual burning.<br />
The main mourner—usually the eldest son or closest male family member’s hair and facial hair is shorn, and his nails are cut. He wears a simple dhoti (traditional Indian male’s wraparound clothing). The chief mourner follows a prescribed ritual, which involves circling the body and showering it with ghee (clarified butter) and incense—like sandalwood—again often purchased from one of the local funereal accessories vendors. It takes about three hours for an average sized body to burn completely. If a family is poor and doesn’t have enough money to buy the right amount of wood to burn the body, then wood left over from other fires might be used. It takes about 350 kilos of wood to burn a body completely.<br />
Afterward, the workers dump ashes from the burned pyres and douse
    IND_040417_239_x.jpg
  • Male family members perform the rituals of Hindu cremation at the Harishchandra Ghat. Other fires burn bodies that have already had their cremation ritual.
    IND_040412_336_x.jpg
  • A lone goat at the Harishchandra Ghat eats marigold garlands that once adorned the bodies dipped into the Ganges River for final ritual baths before cremation in Varansi, India. The Harishchandra Ghat (also known as the Harish Chandra Ghat) is the smaller and more ancient of the two primary cremation grounds in Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges River.
    IND_040412_999_x.jpg
  • A body wrapped in bright orange funeral cloth purchased from one of the many funeral vendors that line the narrow streets above Manikarnika Ghat is carried to the edge of the Ganges River for cremation as another body is being readied for burning. Surrounded by boats loaded with wood used for burning the bodies, workers stack the wood that a family has purchased from the ghat's managers for the cremation ritual.
    IND_040410_366_x.jpg
  • Ritual waters from the Ganges River are poured onto the face of the body of Savitridevi Mishra, who lived near the cremation grounds of Jalasi Ghat. Wrapped in a shroud of yellow and gold and decorated with marigold garlands, the woman will be burned upon a funeral pyre at the cremation grounds in a rite officiated by the eldest living male in her family.
    IND_040417_349_x.jpg
  • Gopal Jee Singh, 65, from Bihar, holds a butter lamp above his dead wife Subhadra Singh, 60 for a local photographer who takes photographs at the burning ghats and sells prints to families that want a keepsake. Subhadra died last night at 8 p.m. and he and his sons brought her here to Varanasi for the funeral rite, arriving at 3 a.m..Mr. Singh says that his wife didn't want to be cremated and so he and their sons brought her here to the Ganges for a different funeral ritual then most others have.
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  • A woman performs a religious ritual outside a Buddhist monastery in the Tibetan Plateau.
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  • The caretaker of the Shingkhey village Buddhist temple blows a conch shell at the temple window at nightfall, a ritual to ward off evil spirits in the village. From coverage of revisit to Material World Project family in Bhutan, 2001.
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  • Hundreds of Nagas (naked ascetic holy men) stand on the riverbank of the Shipra River in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India just moments before plunging in for a ritual bath to mark the Kumbh Mela festival. (From the book What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets.)  The Kumbh Mela festival is a sacred Hindu pilgrimage held 4 times every 12 years, cycling between the cities of Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Haridwar.  Participants of the Mela gather to cleanse themselves spiritually by bathing in the waters of India's sacred rivers.  Kumbh Mela is one of the largest religious festivals on earth, attracting millions from all over India and the world.  Past Melas have attracted up to 70 million visitors.
    IND_040422_008_xxw.jpg
  • (MODEL RELEASED IMAGE). As part of the celebration that marks the first electricity to come to this region of Bhutan, Chato Namgay (in red robe) lights the ritual butter lamps on an altar below the transformer on the power pole. Above a photo of the king, a sign reads: "Release of Power Supply to Rural Households Under Wangdi Phodrang Dzon Khag to Commemorate Coronation Silver Jubilee Celebration of His Majesty, King Jigme Singye Wangchuk." (Supporting image from the project Hungry Planet: What the World Eats.) The Namgay family living in the remote mountain village of Shingkhey, Bhutan, is one of the thirty families featured, with a weeks' worth of food, in the book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats.
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  • Sitting in lawn chairs under a tent with other guests of honor, a lama takes a swig of Pepsi during the electricity celebration. Chato Namgay (in red robe) has just lit the ritual butter lamps on an altar below the transformer on the power pole. Above a photo of the king, a sign reads: "Release of Power Supply to Rural Households Under Wangdi Phodrang Dzon Khag to Commemorate Coronation Silver Jubilee Celebration of His Majesty, King Jigme Singye Wangchuk." Hungry Planet: What the World Eats (p. 43). The Namgay family living in the remote mountain village of Shingkhey, Bhutan, is one of the thirty families featured, with a weeks' worth of food, in the book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats.
    BHU01_0008_xxf1s.jpg
  • As part of the celebration that marks the first electricity to come to this village in central Bhutan, ritual butter lamps and food offerings on an altar with lightbulbs. (Supporting image from the project Hungry Planet: What the World Eats.) The Namgay family living in the remote mountain village of Shingkhey, Bhutan, is one of the thirty families featured, with a weeks' worth of food, in the book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats.
    BHU01_0030_xf1bs.jpg
  • The main mourner, usually the eldest son or closest male family member, prepares for cremation rituals by getting his head and face shaved. There are a prescribed set of rituals for the entire process that started at the family's home with the washing of the body and wrapping for the travel to the burning ghats. The main mourner's hair and facial hair is shorn, (cost 15 rupees, by one of the many barbers near the ghats) and his nails are cut. Family members at home also are shaved and cut.
    IND_040410_135_x.jpg
  • The main mourner, usually the eldest son or closest male family member, prepares for cremation rituals by getting his head and face shaved. There are a prescribed set of rituals for the entire process that started at the family's home with the washing of the body and wrapping for the travel to the burning ghats. The main mourner's hair and facial hair is shorn, (cost 15 rupees, by one of the many barbers near the ghats) and his nails are cut.
    IND_040412_328_x.jpg
  • Women wash and perform rituals at the Dashashwamedh Ghat, Varansi, India. Varanasi, India.
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  • Durga Tiwari, 35, attends to her dead mother, Savitridevi Mishra, just before she is taken to the cremation grounds of Jalasi Ghat.
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  • Durga Tiwari, 35, is comforted by a family member as her mother, Savitridevi Mishra, is taken to the cremation grounds of Jalasi Ghat.
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  • Durga Tiwari, 35, is comforted by a family member as her mother, Savitridevi Mishra, is taken to the cremation grounds of Jalasi Ghat. This after the body has been washed, draped in a red and yellow shroud and marigold garlands and photographed for a family remembrance.
    IND_040416_515_x.jpg
  • Durga Tiwari, 35, is comforted by a family member as her mother, Savitridevi Mishra, is taken to the cremation grounds of Jalasi Ghat. This after the body has been washed, draped in a red and yellow shroud and marigold garlands and photographed for a family remembrance.
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  • A relative splashes Ganges River water onto the face of Savitridevi Mishra at the cremation grounds of Jalasi Ghat.
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  • Peter Menzel photographing at Manikarnika Ghat on the Ganges River in Varanasi India. The Bodies arrive day and night from far and near to be cremated at Jalasi Ghat, the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat.
    IND_040417_245_x.jpg
  • Bodies arrive day and night from far and near to be cremated at Jalasi Ghat, the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India. One hundred or more times a day male family members carry a loved one's body through the narrow streets on a bamboo litter to the Ganges River shore, a place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death. Not every Hindu can be cremated here, because of transportation costs and logistical considerations.
    IND_040412_721_x.jpg
  • Nuns on the run, Lodz, Poland cemetery on All Saints Day.
    POL_031102_008_x.jpg
  • Peter Menzel photographing at Manikarnika Ghat on the Ganges River in Varanasi India. The Bodies arrive day and night from far and near to be cremated at Jalasi Ghat, the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat.
    IND_040417_239_x.jpg
  • An exhausted mourner sits above the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat and lets ashes rain down on him. One hundred or more times a day male family members carry a loved one's body through the narrow streets on a bamboo litter to the Ganges River shore, a place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death.
    IND_040417_173_x.jpg
  • Bodies arrive day and night from far and near to be cremated at Jalasi Ghat, the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat, Varanasi, India. One hundred or more times a day male family members carry a loved one's body through the narrow streets on a bamboo litter to the Ganges River shore?a place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death. Not every Hindu can be cremated here, because of transportation costs and logistical considerations. Sometimes a body is burned in one location and the ashes brought to Varanasi.
    IND_040413_293_x.jpg
  • The "eternal fire" at the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat. All funeral pyres are lighted from embers from this fire which burns above the ghat. One hundred or more times a day male family members carry a loved one's body through the narrow streets on a bamboo litter to the Ganges River shore,  place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death.
    IND_040412_403_x.jpg
  • Gopal Jee Singh, 65, from Bihar, holds a butter lamp above his dead wife Subhadra Singh, 60 for a local photographer who takes photographs at the burning ghats and sells prints to families that want a keepsake. Subhadra died last night at 8 p.m. and he and his sons brought her here to Varanasi for the funeral rite, arriving at 3 a.m.
    IND_040412_304_x.jpg
  • Mourners comfort each other at the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat. One hundred or more times a day male family members carry a loved one's body through the narrow streets on a bamboo litter to the Ganges River shore, a place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death.
    IND_040417_224_x.jpg
  • Bodies arrive day and night from far and near to be cremated at Jalasi Ghat, the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat, Varanasi, India. One hundred or more times a day male family members carry a loved one's body through the narrow streets on a bamboo litter to the Ganges River shore, a place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death.
    IND_040413_292_x.jpg
  • Bodies arrive day and night from far and near to be cremated at Jalasi Ghat, the cremation grounds at Manikarnika Ghat. One hundred or more times a day male family members carry a loved one's body through the narrow streets on a bamboo litter to the Ganges River shore, a place of pilgrimage for Hindus during life, and at death.
    IND_040412_720_x.jpg
  • A worker carries a piece of wood from one of the wood laden boats moored at the banks of the Ganges River. The wood is chopped into smaller pieces and, when paid for by a family, is used to build funeral pyres at Jalasi Ghat (at Manikarnika Ghat) in Varanasi, India.
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  • An elderly man lives on the street near the Manikarnika Ghat, in Varanasi, India.
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  • This is the last letter written by a young Nepalese boy studying sanskrit at an ashram in Varanasi who was swimming with friends in the Ganges River and drowned.
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  • Family members and friends gather at the funeral of Trieu Thi Chat,  who died at the age of 95 in Van Phuc Village, near Hanoi, Vietnam.
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  • A man leading a funeral procession carries a picture of his grandmother, Trieu Thi Chat, who died at the age of 95 in Van Phuc Village, near Hanoi, Vietnam.
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  • Family members and friends gather at the funeral of Trieu Thi Chat,  who died at the age of 95 in Van Phuc Village, near Hanoi, Vietnam.
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  • Visitors wait for their turn to enter the Shiva Temple, which is built into the Kid's Kemp Shopping Mall on Old Airport Road in Bangalore, India. (From the book What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets.) The 65-foot plaster statue of Lord Shiva sits in a lotus position before an amusement park-style Himalayan mountain-scape built of chicken wire and cement. This free popular attraction at the Kids Kemp shopping mall draws nearly 500,000 devotees on festival days.
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  • A woman named Savitridevi Mishra died at 4 o'clock this morning and lies on the paving stones in the center of a square ringed by apartments near Manikarnika Ghat and the cremation grounds of Jalasi Ghat. A local photographer has come to take a commemorative photograph (at left).
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  • A young Nepalese boy studying sanskrit at an ashram in Varanasi was swimming with friends in the Ganges River and drowned.
    IND_040415_426_x.jpg
  • A young Nepalese boy studying sanskrit at an ashram in Varanasi was swimming with friends in the Ganges River and drowned.
    IND_040415_340_x.jpg
  • A young Nepalese boy studying sanskrit at an ashram in Varanasi was swimming with friends in the Ganges River and drowned. Here his friend (to the right of the man with the beard) who was swimming with him tells the authorities how he drowned right after the boy disappeared beneath the murky waters of the Ganges. His teacher called his parents in Kathmandu but did not tell the reason why. When his father, Bhim Prasad Bastola, arrived in Varanasi on a bus, he was told of the death of his 15-year-old son Chudamani Bastola and the cremation ceremony was held shortly thereafter.
    IND_040413_313_x.jpg
  • Todd and Cristy Kincer entering the Millstone Methodist Church, near Whitesburg, Kentucky, where coal miner Todd Kincer works. (Todd Kincer is featured in the book What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets.) The pastor of the church is Todd's father, Harold Kincer, himself a retired coal miner and county employee.
    USA_080427_019_xw.jpg
  • A Hindu priest pours an offering of ghee onto a fire at the Shiva Temple, which is built into the Kid's Kemp Shopping Mall on Old Airport Road in Bangalore, India. (From the book What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets.) The 65-foot plaster statue of Lord Shiva sits in a lotus position before an amusement park-style Himalayan mountain-scape built of chicken wire and cement. This free popular attraction at the Kids Kemp shopping mall draws nearly 500,000 devotees on festival days.
    IND_081207_173_xxw.jpg
  • Monks walk towards a partially rebuilt monastery in the Tibetan Plateau.
    TIB_060621_148_xw.jpg
  • Monks blow horns as they prepare for prayer on a mountain above a monastery in the Tibetan Plateau.
    TIB_060621_065_xw.jpg
  • Monks blow horns as they prepare for prayer outside a monastery in the Tibetan Plateau.
    TIB_060621_222_xw.jpg
  • Buddhist ceremony after the cremation ceremony with relatives and monks in the family home in honor of Mr. Voua Sy Amkha, 63, a propaganda official for the Lao government in Luang Prabang, Laos, who died of a stroke. His funeral was held over a series of days—first at home with family and monks in Ban Navieng Kham village, a suburb of Luang Prabang, then cremation at the central crematorium site in Ban Vieng Mai, and then again at home a few days after the cremation ceremony.
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  • Buddhist ceremony after the cremation ceremony with relatives and monks in the family home in honor of Mr. Voua Sy Amkha, 63, a propaganda official for the Lao government in Luang Prabang, Laos, who died of a stroke. His funeral was held over a series of days—first at home with family and monks in Ban Navieng Kham village, a suburb of Luang Prabang, then cremation at the central crematorium site in Ban Vieng Mai, and then again at home a few days after the cremation ceremony.
    LAO_110319_766_x.jpg
  • Laotian cremation ceremony at Luang Prabang's central crematorium in Ban Vieng Mai for Mr. Voua Sy Amkha, 63, a propaganda official for the Lao government in Luang Prabang who died of a stroke. Before and after the cremation, his family gathered in the family home with relatives and monks from their Buddhist temple in Ban Navieng Kham village, a suburb of Luang Prabang, Laos.
    LAO_110317_321_x.jpg
  • Every 12 years, millions of devout Hindus celebrate the month-long festival of Kumbh Mela by bathing in the holy waters of the Ganges at Hardiwar, India. Hundreds of ashrams set up dusty, sprawling camps that stretch for miles. Under the watchful eye of police and lifeguards, the faithful throng to bathe in the river. Here, across the river, a ghat is dedicated to sadhus and nagas so they can bathe in relative peace.
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  • Kumbh Mela Festival, Hardiwar, India. The Kumbh Mela festival is a sacred Hindu pilgrimage held 4 times every 12 years, cycling between the cities of Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Hardiwar.  Participants of the Mela gather to cleanse themselves spiritually by bathing in the waters of India's sacred rivers.
    IND_077_xs.jpg
  • Every 12 years, millions of devout Hindus celebrate the month-long festival of Kumbh Mela by bathing in the holy waters of the Ganges at Hardiwar, India. Hundreds of ashrams set up dusty, sprawling camps that stretch for miles. Under the watchful eye of police and lifeguards, the faithful throng to bathe in the river.
    IND_074_xs.jpg
  • Black Rock Desert, Nevada.One of the many futuristic art-themed camps at dusk at the Burning Man Festival burn. Burning Man is the art, drugs and sex festival based on radical self-expression and creative community held annually in the Black Rock Desert near Gerlach, Nevada, USA.
    USA_BMAN_01_xs.jpg
  • Kazimierz, Poland cemetery on All Saints Day. Bory's mother visits with a relative.
    POL_031101_010_x.jpg
  • Shwedagon Pagoda at dawn in Yangon, Myanmar (Rangoon, Burma). The gold-leafed Buddhist Pagoda and surrounding shrines is the most important religious site in the country.
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  • Shot for a New Age story written by Bernard Zekri for Actuel Magazine. Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. .MODEL RELEASED.
    USA_NM_20_xs.jpg
  • Vision quest in the desert near Sante Fe, New Mexico, USA. Peter Menzel self-portrait at night. Shot for a New Age story written by Bernard Zekri for Actuel Magazine. Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. Menzel and Zekri spent the night out in the desert after fasting for a day. The idea is to have visions and meditate. .MODEL RELEASED.
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  • Ascetic Hindu Priest--called a Sadhu, cloaks himself in a funeral shroud used to adorn bodies before they are cremated (left behind by mourners) at the main burning ghat in Varanasi.
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  • A young girl in a rowboad sells floating votive candles to mourners and also tourists near the Dashashwamedh Ghat, on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India.
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  • Death is part of the fabric of life for Hindus and like much of Indian society, takes place in open view. In the early morning men and women wash clothes in the river, slapping dhoti, saris, and other pieces of clothing against rocks and cement slabs as others tend to the bodies burning on the shore at Harishchandra Ghat.
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  • A young girl picks her way along the shoreline as a body burns at the Harishchandra cremation grounds. Just up river a man dries the clothes he just washed in the Ganges in the heat of a burning funeral pyre. The Harishchandra Ghat (also known as the Harish Chandra Ghat) is the smaller and more ancient of the two primary cremation grounds in Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges River.
    IND_040412_411_x.jpg
  • Pre-dawn worshipers with flaming camel dung at the Hindu Rat Temple in Deshnoke, Rajasthan, India. This ornate Hindu temple was constructed by Maharaja Ganga Singh in the early 1900s as a tribute to the rat goddess, Karni Mata..
    IND_026_xs.jpg
  • Two visitors standing at the  Mount of Olives, Israel, look out over the cemetery toward the gold-leafed Dome of the Rock, the most famous Islamic monument in the Old City of Jerusalem. (From the book What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets.)
    ISR_081026_191_xxw.jpg
  • Wrestlers of the Professional Sumo Team (Musahigawa Beya) go through practice routines at their stable in Tokyo, Japan.  Sumos cook and eat chanko nabe, a stew pot of vegetable and meat or fish, at nearly every meal. It  is eaten with copious amounts of rice and numerous side dishes. Miyabiyama eats now to maintain his weight rather than to gain it, unlike the younger less gargantuan wrestlers in his stable who are eating a lot to pack on weight.
    Japan_JAP_060601_340_xw.jpg
  • Professional Sumo Team (Musahigawa Beya) practicing in Tokyo, Japan. Wrestlers of the Professional Sumo Team (Musahigawa Beya) go through practice routines at their stable in Tokyo, Japan.
    Japan_JAP_060601_282_xw.jpg
  • The Old City of Jerusalem and Jewish Cemetery seen from the Mount of Olives, Israel. The church at the center is the Russian church of Mary Magdalene.
    ISR_081026_260_xw.jpg
  • A visiting monk reads Buddhist scripts during a house blessing of Namgay and Nalim's house. Shingkhey, Bhutan. The family of subsistence farmers lives in a 3-story rammed-earth house in the hillside village of Shingkhey, Bhutan. From Peter Menzel's Material World Project.
    Bhu_mw_710_xs.jpg
  • Outside the Shingkhey Buddhist Temple, a two-day ceremony is held to bless the village. To a continuous background of chanting, the monks fill the valley with long, slow, deep notes from their horns. Bhutan. From Peter Menzel's Material World Project.
    Bhu_mw_704_xs.jpg
  • A holy man at the Kumbh Mela Festival, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India claims to only drink one glass of milk per day and be 140 years old. The Kumbh Mela festival is a sacred Hindu pilgrimage held 4 times every 12 years, cycling between the cities of Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Hardiwar. Kumbh Mela is one of the largest religious festivals on earth, attracting millions from all over India and the world. Past Melas have attracted up to 70 million visitors.
    IND_040423_019_x.jpg
  • A man practices yoga along the street of pilgrims during the Kumbh Mela Festival, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India.  The Kumbh Mela festival is a sacred Hindu pilgrimage held 4 times every 12 years, cycling between the cities of Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Hardiwar. Kumbh Mela is one of the largest religious festivals on earth, attracting millions from all over India and the world.  Past Melas have attracted up to 70 million visitors.  During the festival hundreds of ashrams set up free cafeterias and dusty, sprawling camps that stretch for miles. Thousands of Hindu pilgrims file past the different groups on the way to and from the river and their own dusty camps.
    IND_040423_018_x.jpg
  • An elephant roaming the streets is fed cabbage scraps during the Kumbh Mela festival, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India. The Kumbh Mela festival is a sacred Hindu pilgrimage held 4 times every 12 years, cycling between the cities of Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Hardiwar. Kumbh Mela is one of the largest religious festivals on earth, attracting millions from all over India and the world. Past Melas have attracted up to 70 million visitors.
    IND_040423_012_x.jpg
  • Distributing food to Ashram members during KUMBH MELA in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India. The Kumbh Mela festival is a sacred Hindu pilgrimage held 4 times every 12 years, cycling between the cities of Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Hardiwar. Kumbh Mela is one of the largest religious festivals on earth, attracting millions from all over India and the world. Past Melas have attracted up to 70 million visitors.
    IND_040423_004_x.jpg
  • Nagas (Hindu ascetics who are followers of Sadhus) congregate to bathe in the Shipra River during the Kumbh Mela festival, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India. The Kumbh Mela festival is a sacred Hindu pilgrimage held 4 times every 12 years, cycling between the cities of Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Hardiwar.  Participants of the Mela gather to cleanse themselves spiritually by bathing in the waters of India's sacred rivers. Kumbh Mela is one of the largest religious festivals on earth, attracting millions from all over India and the world.  Past Melas have attracted up to 70 million visitors..
    IND_040422_007_x.jpg
  • Kumbh Mela festival, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India. The Kumbh Mela festival is a sacred Hindu pilgrimage held 4 times every 12 years, cycling between the cities of Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Hardiwar. Kumbh Mela is one of the largest religious festivals on earth, attracting millions from all over India and the world. Past Melas have attracted up to 70 million visitors.
    IND_040419_004_x.jpg
  • A naga sadhu at Kumbh Mela in Ujjain, India, doing yoga and giving blessing with a feather duster to people who approach with donations. The sign says his name is Mahan Birij, welcome, and that he is the disciple of Sivaratri. The Kumbh Mela festival is a sacred Hindu pilgrimage held 4 times every 12 years, cycling between the cities of Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Hardiwar. Past Melas have attracted up to 70 million visitors. (Supporting image from the project Hungry Planet: What the World Eats.)
    IND_040418_001_x.jpg
  • Donated items and money fill and adorn small funerary houses in the front of the family home in honor of Mr. Voua Sy Amkha, 63, a propaganda official for the Lao government in Luang Prabang, Laos, who died of a stroke. His funeral was held over a series of days—first at home with family and monks in Ban Navieng Kham village, a suburb of Luang Prabang, then cremation at the central crematorium site in Ban Vieng Mai, and then again at home a few days after the cremation ceremony.
    LAO_110319_791_x.jpg
  • Donated items and money fill and adorn small funerary houses in the front of the family home in honor of Mr. Voua Sy Amkha, 63, a propaganda official for the Lao government in Luang Prabang, Laos, who died of a stroke. His funeral was held over a series of days—first at home with family and monks in Ban Navieng Kham village, a suburb of Luang Prabang, then cremation at the central crematorium site in Ban Vieng Mai, and then again at home a few days after the cremation ceremony.
    LAO_110319_781_x.jpg
  • Buddhist ceremony after the cremation ceremony with relatives and monks in the family home in honor of Mr. Voua Sy Amkha, 63, a propaganda official for the Lao government in Luang Prabang, Laos, who died of a stroke. His funeral was held over a series of days—first at home with family and monks in Ban Navieng Kham village, a suburb of Luang Prabang, then cremation at the central crematorium site in Ban Vieng Mai, and then again at home a few days after the cremation ceremony.
    LAO_110319_757_x.jpg
  • Donated items and money fill and adorn small funerary houses in the front of the family home in honor of Mr. Voua Sy Amkha, 63, a propaganda official for the Lao government in Luang Prabang, Laos, who died of a stroke. His funeral was held over a series of days—first at home with family and monks in Ban Navieng Kham village, a suburb of Luang Prabang, then cremation at the central crematorium site in Ban Vieng Mai, and then again at home a few days after the cremation ceremony.
    LAO_110319_722_x.jpg
  • Laotian cremation ceremony at Luang Prabang's central crematorium in Ban Vieng Mai for Mr. Voua Sy Amkha, 63, a propaganda official for the Lao government in Luang Prabang who died of a stroke. Before and after the cremation, his family gathered in the family home with relatives and monks from their Buddhist temple in Ban Navieng Kham village, a suburb of Luang Prabang, Laos.
    LAO_110317_519_x.jpg
  • Laotian cremation ceremony at Luang Prabang's central crematorium in Ban Vieng Mai for Mr. Voua Sy Amkha, 63, a propaganda official for the Lao government in Luang Prabang who died of a stroke. Before and after the cremation, his family gathered in the family home with relatives and monks from their Buddhist temple in Ban Navieng Kham village, a suburb of Luang Prabang, Laos.
    LAO_110317_481_x.jpg
  • Laotian cremation ceremony at Luang Prabang's central crematorium in Ban Vieng Mai for Mr. Voua Sy Amkha, 63, a propaganda official for the Lao government in Luang Prabang who died of a stroke. Before and after the cremation, his family gathered in the family home with relatives and monks from their Buddhist temple in Ban Navieng Kham village, a suburb of Luang Prabang, Laos.
    LAO_110317_457_x.jpg
  • Laotian cremation ceremony at Luang Prabang's central crematorium in Ban Vieng Mai for Mr. Voua Sy Amkha, 63, a propaganda official for the Lao government in Luang Prabang who died of a stroke. Before and after the cremation, his family gathered in the family home with relatives and monks from their Buddhist temple in Ban Navieng Kham village, a suburb of Luang Prabang, Laos.
    LAO_110317_438_x.jpg
  • Laotian cremation ceremony at Luang Prabang's central crematorium in Ban Vieng Mai for Mr. Voua Sy Amkha, 63, a propaganda official for the Lao government in Luang Prabang who died of a stroke. Before and after the cremation, his family gathered in the family home with relatives and monks from their Buddhist temple in Ban Navieng Kham village, a suburb of Luang Prabang, Laos.
    LAO_110317_368_x.jpg
  • Laotian cremation ceremony at Luang Prabang's central crematorium in Ban Vieng Mai for Mr. Voua Sy Amkha, 63, a propaganda official for the Lao government in Luang Prabang who died of a stroke. Before and after the cremation, his family gathered in the family home with relatives and monks from their Buddhist temple in Ban Navieng Kham village, a suburb of Luang Prabang, Laos.
    LAO_110317_323_x.jpg
  • Laotian cremation ceremony at Luang Prabang's central crematorium in Ban Vieng Mai for Mr. Voua Sy Amkha, 63, a propaganda official for the Lao government in Luang Prabang who died of a stroke. Before and after the cremation, his family gathered in the family home with relatives and monks from their Buddhist temple in Ban Navieng Kham village, a suburb of Luang Prabang, Laos.
    LAO_110317_319_x.jpg
  • Funeral of Mr. Voua Sy Amkha, 63, at home in Ban Navieng Kham village, a suburb of Luang Prabang, Laos, and then cremation at the central crematorium site in Ban Vieng Mai. The propaganda official for the Lao government in Luang Prabang died of a stroke. His wife is in white in the center of the photo.
    LAO_110317_190_x.jpg
  • Funeral of Mr. Voua Sy Amkha, 63, at home in Ban Navieng Kham village, a suburb of Luang Prabang, Laos, and then cremation at the central crematorium site in Ban Vieng Mai. The propaganda official for the Lao government in Luang Prabang died of a stroke.
    LAO_110317_189_x.jpg
  • Funeral of Mr. Voua Sy Amkha, 63, at home in Ban Navieng Kham village, a suburb of Luang Prabang, Laos, and then cremation at the central crematorium site in Ban Vieng Mai. The propaganda official for the Lao government in Luang Prabang died of a stroke.
    LAO_110317_125_x.jpg
  • Funeral of Mr. Voua Sy Amkha, 63, at home in Ban Navieng Kham village, a suburb of Luang Prabang, Laos, and then cremation at the central crematorium site in Ban Vieng Mai. The propaganda official for the Lao government in Luang Prabang died of a stroke.
    LAO_110317_166_x.jpg
  • Funeral of Mr. Voua Sy Amkha, 63, at home in Ban Navieng Kham village, a suburb of Luang Prabang, Laos, and then cremation at the central crematorium site in Ban Vieng Mai. The propaganda official for the Lao government in Luang Prabang died of a stroke.
    LAO_110317_137_x.jpg
  • The courtyard of the Blue Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey.
    Tur_mw2_704_xs.jpg
  • Gangte Goemba (Monastery) in Phobjikha Valley, Bhutan. Young Buddhist monks practice reading holy scripts aloud in an entryway. The monastery dates back to the 1600's and includes one of the largest prayer halls in the tiny Himalayan country and a meditation center for monks. The government financed the building of a Buddhist college here in the 1980's. From coverage of revisit to Material World Project family in Bhutan, 2001.
    Bhu_mw2_133_xs.jpg
  • A visitor spins one prayer wheel then moves to another until all four in an entry at Jambey Khakhang are spinning. The spinning cylinders are filled with prayers, which are ?said? as the wheel turns. Bumthang Valley, Bhutan. From coverage of revisit to Material World Project family in Bhutan, 2001.
    Bhu_mw2_98_xs.jpg
  • Nalim and Namgay's grandson, Geltshin, watches a wood worker cutting traditional shapes into a piece of wood for a new Bhutanese house. The carpenters, from another village, have set up camp and live at the work site while they do the woodwork for a new house in the village of Shingkhey, Bhutan. Traditional three-story houses built of rammed earth dot the hillside village of Shingkhey, Bhutan. Nalim and Namgay's neighbor is building a new house for his family directly in front of his old one. Carpenters from another village build the wooden structures such as doorways, rafters, windows, and lintels. Villagers from each family come to help pound the dirt into wooden forms day after day, creating the walls of the earthen house. From coverage of revisit to Material World Project family in Bhutan, 2001.
    Bhu_mw2_26_xs.jpg
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Peter Menzel Photography

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