This footage captures the moment hundreds of sky lanterns are released into the skies above Chiang Mai, Thailand. The ultralight paper body fills with hot gas and sends each lantern soaring skyward, the suspended flame propelling its glowing form into the night.

The whirling silks of this Tshechu dancer’s costume blossom into an impressive shape as he loses himself in the rhythm of the traditional Cham (or Tscham) dance as part of the Lhuntse Tshechu, an annual festival held in northeastern Bhutan. These masked dancers perform to a musical accompaniment provided by brother monks or other locals.

An elderly woman wearing traditional dress accosts me as I focus my camera on the exterior of the church. She wags her bony finger at me and ominously hisses “No…no…no….” She unnerves me so much I quickly hide my camera. We are near San Cristóbal de las Casas in Chiapas, Mexico, in a town called Chamula, where the indigenous Tzotzil people earnestly protect their society and way of life.

The picture here is of an evening Aarti performance at Dasaswamedh Ghat in Varanasi, India. While many ghats performs this grand prayer ceremony, the one held at Dasaswamedh Ghat is one of the largest and best known. Here, five young, extremely talented Hindu priests preform the highly choreographed ritual with super agility and dexterity.

One of the main features of Buddhist monasteries in Sikkim is the prayer wheel, found in lines on monastery premises. Pilgrims turn these wheels, for it is believed that a prayer is released with every rotation of the wheel. The picture here is of one such wheel in the making. The artist is painting the prayer ‘om mani padme hum’ on it, which is a very popular Buddhist mantra said to increase the effect of a prayer.