High-country herding defines a Himalayan community..

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

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

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.

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

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

Chefchaouen, an old town with a gloriously monotone medina.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kurdish singers shout the story of their embattled nation.

A ride on Vienna's defining roadway.

A Cape Town specialty: boiled sheep’s head.

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

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.

Preserving ethnic traditions from the throne.

Havana’s youth learn to punch above their weight.

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

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

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

The athletic challenge that turns Hamar boys into men.

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

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

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

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

In Taipei, indoor fishermen dangle for their dinner.

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

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

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

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

The musette, theme song of a bygone Paris.

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

The homegrown skincare product that defines a nation.

One man watches over an uninhabited New Brunswick island.

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

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

Spectacular processions in Granada bring Catholic feeling to fever pitch.

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

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

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

Tradition-minded Vermont farmers swear by the scythe.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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