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

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

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

Preserving the flavor of Old Vienna.

High-country herding defines a Himalayan community..

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

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

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

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

Chefchaouen, an old town with a gloriously monotone medina.

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

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

Kurdish singers shout the story of their embattled nation.

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

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

A ride on Vienna's defining roadway.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Cape Town specialty: boiled sheep’s head.

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

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

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

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

The musette, theme song of a bygone Paris.

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

Preserving ethnic traditions from the throne.

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

The athletic challenge that turns Hamar boys into men.

Havana’s youth learn to punch above their weight.

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

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

The homegrown skincare product that defines a nation.

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

One man watches over an uninhabited New Brunswick island.

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

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

In Taipei, indoor fishermen dangle for their dinner.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tradition-minded Vermont farmers swear by the scythe.

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

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

Spectacular processions in Granada bring Catholic feeling to fever pitch.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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