The daily catch, viewed across decades. An ancient mariner reflects.

In a sacred town, the most colorful Hindu celebration takes on extra meaning.

Preserving the flavor of Old Vienna.

In a remote village in Teruel, an elderly couple are the only remaining residents.

In Kyoto, an exquisite and uniquely demanding profession lives on.

High-country herding defines a Himalayan community..

The ancient city of Bagan bristles with thousand-year-old buildings.

The subway system that’s also a work of art.

Kurdish singers shout the story of their embattled nation.

In historic Isfahan, an official ceremony makes a girl a woman.

The Hindu holy men who preside over the world’s largest religious gathering.

Chefchaouen, an old town with a gloriously monotone medina.

In Sulawesi, big-lunged Bajau hunters eke out a traditional living underwater.

A tournament that has attracted slippery strongmen since the 14th century.

A single-chair lift Vermont lets purists ski the old-fashioned way.

Where Rajasthan’s desert herdsmen bring their beasts to market.

Siena’s medieval-themed processions lay bare the city’s sturdy, tangled roots. Just don’t call them reenactments.

In the Orthodox highlands, an age-old symbolic object takes many forms.

A ride on Vienna's defining roadway.

On the Andaman coast, a disappearing approach to married life.

A distinctive whistling language still echoes in the hills of La Gomera.

Why one historic valley district has its own customs agents and passport stamps.

The multi-functional motorcycles of southern Arabia, and the daredevils who ride them.

In the eastern highlands, grandmothers wear tribal affiliation on their faces.

The freakiest-looking festival in the Himalayas comes courtesy of Buddhist monks.

Residents of Tonle Sap have literally built a life on the water

A Cape Town specialty: boiled sheep’s head.

In a Galician village, a savage horse-wrestling tradition persists.

In Ethiopia's Omo Valley, resident tribes break the skin in ways that cannot be undone.

The musette, theme song of a bygone Paris.

In the Senegalese capital, a popular (and entirely public) workout spot.

A California town that preserves (and performs) its Danish roots with gusto.

Outside Tokyo, Buddhist monks heat their feet as a test of faith.

A singer/poet’s compilation helps preserve the Gypsy language.

One country lays claim to the world’s most tricked-out cargo vehicles.

Across Yakutia, pagan celebrations of summer are making a comeback.

In a tiny highland nation in southern Africa, herders dignify simple lives with striking costume.

A graveyard for an iconic breed of Latin American public-transport vehicle.

Nova Scotia’s old-school swordfish hunters don’t use lines or nets.

Saut d’Eau, world’s busiest bathing spot for vodou pilgrims.

Hand-picked seaweed is the pride of New Brunswick’s Grand Manan Island.

Preserving ethnic traditions from the throne.

In the Basque Country, handball takes on a heroic aspect.

In a city of ups and downs, an ingenious way to get around.

The threatened Awá people shoot to kill—and to live.

The athletic challenge that turns Hamar boys into men.

The improvised, weather-resistant hunting cabins of Alaska's native Iñupiats.

One man watches over an uninhabited New Brunswick island.

The homegrown skincare product that defines a nation.

In Taipei, indoor fishermen dangle for their dinner.

Cartagena, the Western Hemisphere’s best-preserved colonial city.

For more than 7,000 years, aspiring “Invincible Titans” have grappled on the Central Asian steppe.

Havana’s youth learn to punch above their weight.

The "Kukeri" costume tradition was designed to scare off winter.

The doors that lead in and out of Kigali’s upscale neighborhoods.

Spectacular processions in Granada bring Catholic feeling to fever pitch.

A no-frills approach to cheesemaking endures in the Rarau Mountains.

In New Orleans, historic “Second Line” processions bring the music to the streets.

High-climbing 'guaraperos' tap an iconic tree for sap in La Gomera, Canary Islands.

In Otsu, a 1,200-year-old celebration honors lusty mountain gods every spring.

A Wyoming town revives a cowboy competition, without the frills.

In the Faroe Islands, locals go to great lengths—and heights—to preserve a tradition of “extreme ranching”

Tradition-minded Vermont farmers swear by the scythe.

Thousands of sheep crowd through the Po Valley on an annual migration between Alps and plain.

For a seasoned plant healer, the Amazon rainforest is nature’s pharmacy.

In Istanbul, boys undergo an ancient surgical procedure—and get the royal treatment.

In a town on the Danube, mobs of shaggy monster-men herald the coming of spring.

To please ancestors, children in Himeshima transform into animals and princesses.

With help from trained reindeer, Siberia’s nomadic Nenets speed across the tundra.