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.

High-country herding defines a Himalayan community..

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

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.

Chefchaouen, an old town with a gloriously monotone medina.

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

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

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

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

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

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

A ride on Vienna's defining roadway.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Cape Town specialty: boiled sheep’s head.

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

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

The musette, theme song of a bygone Paris.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Preserving ethnic traditions from the throne.

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

The athletic challenge that turns Hamar boys into men.

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

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

The homegrown skincare product that defines a nation.

One man watches over an uninhabited New Brunswick island.

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

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

Havana’s youth learn to punch above their weight.

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

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

In Taipei, indoor fishermen dangle for their dinner.

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

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

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

Spectacular processions in Granada bring Catholic feeling to fever pitch.

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.

Tradition-minded Vermont farmers swear by the scythe.

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

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.

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

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

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

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