High-country herding defines a Himalayan community..

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

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

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

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

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

Preserving the flavor of Old Vienna.

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

Chefchaouen, an old town with a gloriously monotone medina.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Cape Town specialty: boiled sheep’s head.

A ride on Vienna's defining roadway.

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

Preserving ethnic traditions from the throne.

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.

Havana’s youth learn to punch above their weight.

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

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

The athletic challenge that turns Hamar boys into men.

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

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

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

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

In Taipei, indoor fishermen dangle for their dinner.

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.

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

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

The musette, theme song of a bygone Paris.

The homegrown skincare product that defines a nation.

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

One man watches over an uninhabited New Brunswick island.

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

Spectacular processions in Granada bring Catholic feeling to fever pitch.

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

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

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

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

Tradition-minded Vermont farmers swear by the scythe.

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

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

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

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

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