Randy Olson, Melissa Farlow Photography

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  • Flags and statuary decorate a colorful roadside altar in a desolate region of northern Chile. Shrines or  animitas are a common tradition of memorials that mark the site where someone died. People who are not related to the person who was killed can offer a prayer at the animita; in this way, animitas can take the roles of popular saints in the Catholic religion.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_1187656.jpg
  • Novices play ball in a courtyard during a short break from the strict everyday life in a cloistered convent at Santa Catalina Convent in Arequipa, Peru. Older Catholic nuns allow this scheduled play to help the young nuns adjust more easily to the new rules and a routine: They are always silent, pray seven times a day, and never leave the grounds. Visitors to the convent can attend mass but never see life behind the walls where 23 women ranging in age from 15 to 93 make their home.
    MELISSA FARLOW_SP163_655663.jpg
  • A blur envelopes a young parishioner who carries a candle-lit canvas lantern in a processional that celebrates Christians' Holy Week. It is a centuries-old annual Mendrisio tradition.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024099.jpg
  • This Indian festival in the Ramblas Catalunya area of Barcelona is called Vaisakhi.  These are Sikhs from Punjab that started a procession in Ramblas Raval and carried it thru Ramblas Catalunya and ended at the Plaza St. Augustine. The festival includes the passing out of huge amounts of food.  The men in this street hauled cart after shopping cart of fresh fruit and passed it out to the public.
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  • Sunlight floods the doorway as Christian worshipers file into Lo Vasquez  sanctuary. They walked during a religious pilgrimage to the Catholic cathedral located near both Santiago and Valparaiso, Chile.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_1187647.jpg
  • A clergyman studies inside a 13th-century Orthodox church.
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  • A gilded icon of the archangel Michael, painted in the 19th century, once hung in an Eastern Orthodox Church in Sinop.
    RANDY OLSON_MM6689_679158.JPG
  • Onlookers watch an Indian festival, Vaisakhi, in Barcelona's Rambla de Catalunya area.
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  • Monday is laundry day at Val Mustair.  Nuns working to hang clothes to dry in the sun are reflected in windows overlooking the Christian convent courtyard. A world-famous Benedictine Convent and a UNESCO World Heritage Site founded in the 8th century, the convent is home to Benedictine nuns since the 12th Century. Eleven make their home behind closed walls, living a life of commitment to poverty and celibacy. Each nun has her work but they come together for prayer and meals. Eleven of the nuns who live there speak a variation of the Romanche language.
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  • A nun tunes her guitar while her sisters rehearse music in the cloistered Convent St. John in Val Mustair. A UNESCO World Heritage Site founded in the 8th century, it has been home to Christian Benedictine nuns since the 12th Century.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024094.jpg
  • An Indian festival, Vaisakhi, in Barcelona's Rambla de Catalunya area.
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  • An Indian festival, Vaisakhi, in Barcelona's Rambla de Catalunya area.
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  • An elderly woman has a front-window view of a Good Friday procession.
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  • A nun hangs laundry out to dry in the cloistered convent courtyard at Val Mustair, a world-famous Benedictine Convent and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Founded in the 8th century, it has been home to Benedictine nuns since the 12thCentury.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024097.TIF
  • Monday is laundry day at Val Mustair as nuns fold a flowered sheet in the convent courtyard. The world-famous Benedictine Convent and a UNESCO World Heritage Site is in the Swiss Alps. Founded in the 8th century, the Christian convent is home to Benedictine nuns since the 12th Century. Eleven make their home behind closed walls, living a life of commitment to poverty and celibacy. Each nun has her work and they come together for meals and prayer.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024095.jpg
  • A nun walks through the garden dusted with snow before the planting season begins at Val Mustair, a world-famous Benedictine Convent and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Swiss Alps.  Founded in the 8th century, it has been home to Benedictine nuns since the 12th Century.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024093.jpg
  • Nuns pray in the chapel at Convent at St. John Mustair, a world-famous Benedictine Convent and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Founded in the 8th century, it has been home to Benedictine nuns since the 12th Century. Eleven make their home behind closed walls, living a life of commitment to poverty and celibacy. Each nun has her work and they come together for Christian prayer and meals.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024092.jpg
  • A nun carries the beloved cat through the Convent of Saint John in Mustair, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Founded in the 8th century, it has been home to Benedictine nuns in Switzerland since the 12th Century.
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  • Over 700 children carry hundred year old candle-lit lanterns made of canvas as they walk through the streets on Good Friday of Holy Week. The Christian celebration in Mendrisio dates back to the 17th century.
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  • Bride and groom light candles in prayer during their traditional wedding ceremony at the cathedral in Juchitán.<br />
After the church wedding, the couple walked through the streets of town following musicians. They collected family members who carried food to a street blocked off for the party.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_1187075.jpg
  • Novices studying to become cloistered nuns take a break from their prayers at Santa Catalina Convent to sing in the garden.<br />
The young, cloistered nuns never leave convent grounds and live a life of contemplation in Arequipa, Peru. Older nuns allow the young women free time once a day to help them adjust to the cloistered, regimented life. Having just left their families they will never see again, the vow of commitment the novices take is a serious lifelong decision.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_1187062.jpg
  • Songs and prayer are how nuns begin their day at Santa Catalina Convent in Arequipa, Peru. The Monasterio de Santa Catalina was built in 1580. Among the 30 cloistered nuns who live in silence are five novices who study for five years to become a nun. The youngest nun is 15. The oldest is 98.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_1187061.jpg
  • Cloistered nuns come together for chorus and prayer in Santa Catalina Convent in Arequipa, Peru. Ornate paintings and art adorn the walls of the chapel.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_1187060.jpg
  • Cloistered nuns pray seven times a day and otherwise remain silent.  Contemplation is the most important thing in their lives. Santa Catalina Convent, the Monasterio de Santa Catalina was built in 1580 and enlarged in the 17th century. In the chapel, the 30 cloistered nuns come together who live secluded inside the convent.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_1187059.jpg
  • Cloistered nuns work to make wafers for communion at Santa Catalina Convent in Arequipa, Peru. The Monasterio de Santa Catalina was built in 1580 and enlarged in the 17th century. The 30 cloistered nuns who live there have jobs and come together seven times during the day for chorus and prayer.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_1187058.jpg
  • Novices studying to be nuns, stop to smell the roses in the flower garden of the cloistered convent, Santa Catalina Convent. Built in the 1580s and enlarged in the 17th century, now 30 nuns live behind the walls in silence and prayer. The young novices are given some free time and activities as they adjust to their cloistered life in the monastery in Peru.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_1187057.jpg
  • Nuns walk through a cobblestone passage inside Santa Catalina Convent. They are  followed by a dog that greets them while wandering freely the convent.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_1187056.jpg
  • On her 15th birthday, a Zapotec Indian girl in Juchitán attends communion at the Catholic church before her Quinceañera, which marks her passage from girlhood to womanhood. <br />
Dressed in her finest white dress and holding a bouquet of flowers, she kneels to light a candle.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_1187019.jpg
  • A photographer takes images of an Indian festival, Vaisakhi, in Barcelona's Rambla de Catalunya area.
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  • The Cathedral of Siena.
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  • Cloistered nuns pray seven times a day and otherwise remain silent.  Contemplation is the most important thing in their lives. Santa Catalina Convent, the Monasterio de Santa Catalina was built in 1580 and enlarged in the 17th century. In the chapel, the 30 cloistered nuns come together who live secluded inside the convent.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_1187059-1.JPG
  • Indian Muslims at the call to prayer on the roof of a Kolkata mosque.
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  • A Ratha Yatra religious festival in temple town of Puri.
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  • Morning fog rises over a summit cross on Zinalrothorn and other mountain peaks in the Alps surrounding the Matterhorn.
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  • A summit cross depicts a Christian crucifix standing high on a peak in the Dolomite Mountains.
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  • A man sits with family members during a Day of the Dead vigil at a family grave in Xoxocotlan with candles and flowers. Dia de los Muertos is Mexico's most characteristic fiesta where it is believed that souls of the dead return to the earth. Families sit in the cemetery and sharing stories, music and their loved ones favorite foods.<br />
Some grave sites such as this one had a three dimensional sand painting done just for the celebration.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_1187017.jpg
  • Mendicants or beggar pilgrims at a town fair.
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  • Hindus worship a golden deity during the Tirupati Temple Festival.
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  • Hindus worship a golden deity during the Tirupati Temple Festival.
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  • Sculpted bronze doors on the baptistry next to the Cathedral of Siena.
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  • The Cathedral of Siena.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1222978.JPG
  • During Holy Week in Mendrisio, Christians dressed in white robes carry canvas lanterns, some over a hundred years old, The crosses are lit by candles and somberly carried through the streets for a passion play processional.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7139_1024143.JPG
  • Children carry canvas lanterns lit by candles in an evening passion play processional. Christian Holy Week is celebrated annual in Mendrisio with this tradition.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7139_1024142.JPG
  • Christians dressed in costume carry crosses through the streets on Holy Week. Night view of a passion play depicting Christ's death.
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  • Islamic Turks mourn a dead relative.
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  • Glazed tiles cover the 17th century Mastid Nazir Khan mosque in Lahore, Pakistan.
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  • A Ratha Yatra religious festival in temple town of Puri.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7890_1364836.TIF
  • A mother and daughter worship during a church service.
    MELISSA FARLOW_06460_668284.jpg
  • Hindus worship a golden deity during the Tirupati Temple Festival.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7339_1223045.JPG
  • Twilight falls on the snow-covered village of Castelrotto which is also known as Kastelruth in German. The tower of a cathedral lights up the northern Italian resort town that serves as a winter destination in the Dolomites. Large distinctive mountains loom over the communities attracting tourists in all seasons.
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  • An Afro-Cuban dance teacher shows dance moves of sea goddess Yemaya.
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  • An Afro-Cuban dance teacher shows dance moves of sea goddess Yemaya.
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  • An Afro-Cuban dance teacher shows dance moves of sea goddess Yemaya.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5959_1312319.jpg
  • An Afro-Cuban dance teacher looks out toward the ocean.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MT5959_1376329.jpg
  • First Communion for sisters Kathia Lizeth Humala Marin and Lineth Estefani Humala Marin outside Iglesia San Pedro.  The Sunday celebration took place off the Plaza de Armas. Peru's capital city, Lima's population is 24  million residents.  <br />
Founded by Francisco Pizarro in 1535, the city is located along the desert coast in the center of Peru.  After a disastrous 1746 earthquake, Spanish colonial buildings were built in the period following.  In the Plaza de Armas area the colonial buildings have been repainted, balconies refurbished.  Surrounding cafes have opened and crime is down.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_1187638-3.JPG
  • Dressed in colorful traditional clothing, Tlingit tribe leaders celebrate after a ceremony involving six totem poles that were raised in a Native Alaskan local park.
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  • People bathing in the sacred Ganges River in Varanasi.
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  • Parade of children carry lanterns in an Easter passion play.
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  • Religious icons outside a Catholic church on a hillside.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114567.jpg
  • A nun at Val Mustair, a world-famous Benedictine Convent of St. John.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114528.jpg
  • A couple with a dog walk near a hilltop chuch.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114498.jpg
  • Dancing and singing followed a totem raising ceremony. Tlinglet leaders dressed in colorful traditional clothing for a historic totem raising where seven totem poles were   placed in a Native Alaskan park in Klawock. Many of the 1000 Native Alaskans moved indoors to a gymnasium where festivities continued throughout the day.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075036.jpg
  • Rain did not stop the celebrations of dancing and singing that followed a historic totem raising ceremony on Prince of Wales Island.<br />
Generations of Tlingit and Haida Native Alaskans retain strong cultural ties with the natural world reflected in their totem art depicting whales and bears.
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  • Bird's-eye view of a vineyard and train tracks running through the bustling city of Balzano in the South Tyrol province of northern Italy. Set in a valley amid steep hills, it is a gateway to the Dolomites mountain range in the Italian Alps.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024118.jpg
  • Slovenians walk along a snow-covered path to a hilltop church near Ljubljana.
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  • Families gather outside a small, white-painted church for a ramps dinner. Allium tricoccum, wild leek, wild onion, spring tonic, or most commonly, the ramp is a wild plant that grows in the mountains of Appalachia. It resembles a scallion and tastes like a cross between an onion and garlic and dinners are a long-standing community tradition.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6773_1023703.jpg
  • Mother Superior's dog greets her in the morning in the courtyard of Convento de Carmen Alto. The convent is home to cloistered nuns in the center of the historic district of Quito.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2512704.jpg
  • A nun makes wafers for communion at Convento de Carmen Alto, a cloistered convent in the Colonial historic district of Quito.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2512702.jpg
  • Mother Superior joins other nuns for a tasty breakfast at Convento de Carmen Alto, a cloistered convent. Women in the cloistered Carmelite religious order in Quito have jobs and duties performed throughout the monastery daily.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2512700.jpg
  • Cloistered Catholic nuns ride in a modern glass elevator added to the 16th century Convento de Carmen Alto. The Carmelite order was forced to settle in Quito after destruction of their monastery in a 1698 earthquake. Older nuns appreciate the convenience to climbing stairs to attend prayer in the chapel.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2512699.jpg
  • Mother Superior leads prayer during morning mass at Convento de Carmen Alto.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2512698.jpg
  • Cloistered nuns enter the cathedral for a brief private morning prayer and return through fenced gates to Convento de Carmen Alto in Quito, Ecuador.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2512697.jpg
  • Morning prayers in the chapel bring a group of cloistered nuns together at Convento de Carmen Alto in Quito.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_2512696.jpg
  • Stair and original walls from 1580 in Santa Catalina Convent.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_1187651.jpg
  • Archway and iron gate of the cathedral adorned with turrets on the Plaza de Armas adorned with Spanish Colonial architecture in Arequipa, Peru.<br />
The cathedral has survived the earthquake prone city.  It was constructed in 1656 but gutted by fire in 1844, then destroyed in the earthquake of 1868 but rebiult shortly thereafter.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_1187513.jpg
  • A young boy carries a bouquet of bright, red zempazuchitl flowers that his family was harvesting to sell for Day of the Dead, the Mexican fiesta celebration. Pickers work late into the evening under the shadow of Popocatépetl, or El Popo as locals call the volcano.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_1187064.jpg
  • A blurring of cultures as children dance in the street wearing Halloween masks in celebration of Day of the Dead. The American and Hispanic celebrations coincide involving masks and candy in the small Mexican town where families use burros and make mescal from agave plants.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_1187045.jpg
  • A grandmother works picking flowers with her family under the smoking volcano Popocatepetl in nearby Atlixco, flower capital of Mexico.  Workers harvest bouquets of zempazuchitl flowers for Day of the Dead celebrations.  Fields full of yellow flowers are cultivated to decorate altars and graves for the Mexican fiesta.
    MELISSA FARLOW_04526_1187016.jpg
  • A boy resting in church.
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  • A Hamar woman prepares for a bull jumping initiation ritual.
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  • A Banna man prepares to whip a woman during an initiation ritual.
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  • Mbuti Pygmy boys applying body paint during manhood initiation rites.
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  • Mbuti Pygmy boys participating in manhood initiation rites.
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  • Mbuti Pygmy boy in a grass skirt during manhood initiation rites.
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  • Boys are secluded before they do dances signifying their manhood.
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  • A Mbuti boy displays welts from being whipped during a puberty ritual.
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  • A Pygmy choir is led by a Bantu tribesman.
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  • A Pygmy choir is led by a Bantu tribesman.
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  • Bantu tribespeople worship.
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  • Mbuti boys wear grass skirts during their circumcision ceremony.
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  • Mbuti boys wear grass skirts during their circumcision ceremony.
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  • Mbuti boys with photographer Randy Olson.
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  • Mbuti boys wear grass skirts during their circumcision ceremony.
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  • Mbuti boys are kept silent by clamping leaves in their mouths.
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  • Boys wearing ceremonial skirts trail their elders to a hunting camp.
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  • Though blind, an Mbute boy endures rites of manhood alongside peers.
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  • A Ladin funeral procession seen trough a lace curtained window in a small village of LaVal in the Alps where the people are isolated and speak German and Italian but also Ladin, their own ethnic language.
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  • An altar boy holds a candle inside a dimly-lit church.
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  • A woman's hand washed in blood after a sheep sacrifice.
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  • A boy awaits circumcision, a Muslim rite of passage
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