No, it's not make-up, and it's not retouched. Her #red cheeks burned by the bitter #cold, Marbet, a 7-year old Afghan Kyrgyz girl, just returned from gathering the family yaks in her winter camp. The semi-nomadic Afghan Kyrgyz community relies mostly on their animal herds to feed themselves. Living all year round in the #Pamir mountains at 13.000 feet in a place where nothing grows expect grass, they sometimes barter their animals against flour to make flat bread.

For the FULL IMAGE SERIES, go to @paleyphoto #mountains #portrait#Afghanistan #food #latergram #evolutionofdiet#paleodiet @thephotosociety @natgeocreative

Highly prized by the ancient Egyptians, lapis imported from Afghanistan was carved into figurines, jewelry and talismans. A lapis scarab was often buried with the dead as it was believed that lapis would protect them in the afterlife. Lapis was used more than any other stone in carvings of the third eye and was frequently adorned with gold. To the ancient Egyptians, lapis represented truth and was directly connected to the gods.

Earring Period: New Kingdom, Ramesside Dynasty: Dynasty 19 Date: ca. 1295–1186 B.C. Geography: Egypt Medium: Gold, lapis lazul

They do not freeze totally solid, but they do freeze mostly solid. Two-thirds of their body water turns to ice. If you picked them up, they would not move. If you bent one of their legs, it would break.

Inside these frozen frogs other weird physiological things are going on. Their hearts stop beating, their blood no longer flows and their glucose levels sky rocket.

The craziest thing of all may be that in this frozen state, they can withstand temperatures as low as zero degrees Fahrenheit for as long as seven months, and then, when spring arrives, thaw out and hop away.

The main entrances to ancient palaces, temples and mansions have doors with studs arranged in rows. Like other decorations on traditional buildings, the studs served to indicate ranks in the feudal hierarchy.

Door studs go back a long time in history. To keep off aggression, heavy city gates were built and braced on the surface with iron plates, which were fastened on by means of studs. This system lasted for thousands of years.

The door studs on the gates of the Forbidden City were made of brass and plated with gold. Lustrous, they add to the splendour and magnificence of the imperial palace. All the gates used by the emperor have 9 x 9 studs, as the number nine represented the supremacy of the monarch. Other titled personages, princes and barons had fewer studs on their gates.

Architect: Casa Eduard Marcader

Wearing make-up to feel more confident and attractive is common practice for Western women. And although they live in a world far removed from urban life, it's the same for women of the Karo tribe in Ethiopia.

Using white chalk and red ochre, the women create intricate circle, spiral and cross-hatched designs in order to look more beautiful and stand out of the crowd.

What's more, it's not just the women who use this technique in a bid to be more visually appealing to the opposite sex. The men also paint their faces and bodies to boost their sex appeal.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2566573/Ethiopias-Karo-people-cover-face-bodies-striking-patterns-white-chalk-red-ochre-attempt-boost-chances-finding-love.html#ixzz3Qf8pi9wh 
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THE MELANESIAN (AFRICANS) OF SOLOMON ISLANDS: THE WORLD`S ONLY BLACK BLONDES

Athachamayam marks the beginning of the ten-day Onam festival in Kerala. It is an occasion to witness almost all the folk art forms of Kerala.

Conducted every year on the Atham asterism of the Malayalam month Chingam (Leo), the event held at the historical town of Thripunithura is a celebration of a legendary victory of the Raja (King) of Kochi. In olden days it was customary for the king to travel with his entire entourage to the Thripunithura fort. This was also the occasion for his subjects to greet the king and see him at close quarters. The procession, now without the king, still retains its majestic charm, and is conducted in a spectacular manner.

Caparisoned elephants, varieties of folk art forms, floats, musical ensembles etc form part of the procession.

Onam is the most popular festival of the Malayalees and can be traced to the primitive harvest festival and also to the myth regarding King Mahabali - the benevolent asura ruler who brought peace and prosperity to his country.

Noryangjin Fish Market in Seoul, South Kore

Have you ever wondered what the heaviest insect in the world is? The African Goliath beetle certainly might qualify. It weighs about ¼ of a pound! The Goliath beetle derives its name from the Biblical story of David and Goliath. It can carry many times its own body weight.

Goliath beetles are a species of scarab beetle. The difference between a scarab beetle and any other type of beetle is the club at the tip of each antenna. Scarab beetles have layered antennae, the parts fitting together like pieces in a puzzle.

This heavyweight beetle can be found in a rainbow of colors, including purple, black, green, blue, gold, and bronze. Adult Goliath beetles are usually either oval or circular in shape. They are around 5 inches in length, making them one of the longest insects in the world. They have claws on their legs that help them puncture vines to get to the liquids inside.
 
Beetles cannot fly as easily as other flying insects because their wings have a cover called an elytra. A beetle must pull its wings out from the elytra before flying, so flying does not present the best form of defense for any type of beetle. Instead, it usually scampers away if in the presence of humans or predators. A Goliath beetle will use its wings to fly towards light, making a noise that sounds like a helicopter flying by.

These huge beetles have strong legs that cause them to walk rather awkwardly, but their legs are great for digging. They are also great climbers moving slowly through rainforest trees in search of decaying plant matter, sap and fruit.

Hindu holy men in the Indian city of Mathura

Hindu festival of Charak Puja in West Bengal, India. “The rituals of Charak Puja

Dihzahyners, a relatively new street art collective, was founded last April after Jubran Elias, 24, saw a picture of stairs in Germany with each step painted in one color. With Lana and Carine, he decided to create an event on Facebook to invite their design graduates friends. To their surprise, 12 people showed up.

-  words from artist  -

“After painting the stairs, we had to block them to let them dry. But no one [the neighbors] was pissed. On the contrary, they loved it. Colors make the stairs easier and funnier to climb” explains Jubran.  “The neighbors watched us, and came to thank us. An old lady even asked if she could help” he adds. Now, they can be up to 50 people to paint stairs: designers, friends, neighbors… “Our collective is open to everyone.” concludes Jubran.

For Jubran, the success of those installations is easy to understand: “Beirut needs light, color. People want to be brought together”

“These baobab trees on Madagascar are up to 800 years old,” writes Your Shot member Marsel van Oosten. Locally known as “mother of the forest,” the baobab forms a micro-ecosystem of its own, supporting life for both animals and humans, van Oosten says. “Old hollow baobabs are a home to snakes, bats, bush babies, bees, and sometimes even humans. More importantly, the tree is an important source of water—it can store up to 4,000 liters of water in its trunk. For Africa, it is literally the tree of life.

“The Sanskrit term sadhu (‘good man’) refers to renouncers who have chosen to live a life apart from or on the edges of society to focus on their own spiritual practice,” writes Your Shot member Mohd Irman Ismail, who made this portrait in Kathmandu, Nepal. “I was visiting Pashupatinath Temple and saw this lone sadhu relaxing near the bank of the river that passed through the temple. I smiled at him and gestured at the camera, asking for his permission, and he nodded. I lifted the camera and captured him with [this] deep and steely look.”- Nat Geo

A young girl’s face is painted for a festival honoring the guardian deity Angalamman, “the fiercest form,” evoked in participants’ expressions. The festival is held every year in the village of Kaveripattinam in Tamil Nadu, India