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Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors | 1965 | Sergei Parajanov

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Three Armenian Women - Mariam Tamrazyan

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Film: Pirosmani/ფიროსმანი/Пиросмани

Country: Soviet Union/Georgian SSR

Year: 1969

Director: Giorgi Shengelaia

This Soviet film is a biography of the Georgian artist Niko Pirosmanishvili (1863-1918), usually known as Pirosmani. Pirosmani died of starvation, unable to sell any of his works for sufficient money to support life.

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Dressed up as Chinelos during carnival

Location: Tepoztlan, Mexico

Photographer: Jose Garcia Alonso, “Cuervo”

The word “chinelos” is derived from the Nahuatl word “zineloquie” which means “disguised.”The dance is one of many to develop after the Spanish conquest as native traditions and rites blended into Christian festivals. One of these is Carnival, with its traditions of wearing masks, role reversal, anonymity and behaviors not normally tolerated. This dance developed as a mockery of the Europeans with their fine clothing, beards, fair skin and mannerisms. The modern Chinelos costume began to take shape from between the mid 19th century to the early 20th. The elaborate dress, gloved hands, uptilted beard and arrogant stance also makes fun of the salon dancing of the upper classes during the period of the French intervention as well as Porfirio Díaz’s attempts to “Europeanize” Mexico at the end of the 19th century.

The dance became most developed in the state of Morelos, which in the 19th century was home to a number of sugar cane haciendas which made great fortunes for their owners, but left workers impoverished. Four large municipalities in the state, whose histories extend back to the pre-Hispanic period, are famous for their Chinelos: Tlayacapan, Tepoztlán and Yautepec and Jiutepec. The town of Tlayacapan is probably where the modern format for Chinelo dancing originated. The Chinelos here still perform in the former monastery’s extra large atrium during Carnival.

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Women work in the Kim Jong-suk Pyongyang Silk Mill in Pyongyang, April 9, 2012. The factory is named after the wife of North Korea founder Kim Il-sung.

Photographer: Bobby Yip

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Young man from Nizwa, Oman

Photographer: Charles Roffey

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A Miao (Hmong) girl dressed in traditional silver jewelry during a wedding in Guizhou, China

The Miao is an ethnic group recognized by the government of China as one of the 55 official minority groups. Miao is a Chinese term and does not reflect the self-designations of the component groups of people, which include (with some variant spellings) Hmong, Hmub, Xong (Qo-Xiong), and A-Hmao.

The Chinese government has grouped these people and other non-Miao peoples together as one group, whose members may not necessarily be either linguistically or culturally related, though the majority are members of Miao-Yao language family, which includes the Hmong, Hmub, Xong, and A-Hmao and the majority do share cultural similarities. A few groups designated as Miao by the PRC do not even agree that they belong to the ethnic group, though most Miao groups, such as the Hmong and Hmub, do agree with the collective grouping as a single ethnic group – Miao.

It is said that in ancient times the Miao people lived around the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River basin. Long periods of war forced them to frequently relocate until they arrived in Southwest China where they live today. During the migrations, they exchanged their property for silver and crafted it into various kinds of jewelry and ornaments. Miao people also believe silver jewelry wards off evil spirits and can purge of the body of toxins. While the Miao people now live settled lives, silver remains indispensable. During important occasions like weddings and festivals, they wear silver ornaments from head to toe, like silver headdresses, chains, rings and bracelets. The whole outfit can weigh between 3kg and 4kg, with the heaviest reaching 10kg to 15kg. Butterflies and maples, both seen as holy in their culture, are the most common patterns in Miao silver jewelry. Lacking their own written language, embroidery and silversmithing play a key role in passing down Miao history and culture. Silversmithing is passed down generation to generation, with craftsmen developing incredible skills without the aid of modern production methods. Some filamentary silver is even thinner than a human hair.

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Portrait of a Bweyowa girl

Location: Trobriand Islands, Papua New Guinea

Photographer: Wolfgang Kaehler

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Bride and groom posing for photo amid traditional lamps at night market

Location: Hoi An, Vietnam

Photographer: Louis Allen

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Painter: Robyn Kahukiwa

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Khmer Dance Troupe

Dancers in traditional Khmer dress prepare to perform at the Angkor temple complex. Khmer culture almost vanished during the bloody reign of the Khmer Rouge communists in the 1970s, but Cambodians today are reclaiming their inheritance.