Rituals of the World

Baining tribesmen of Papua New Guinea make masks representing the spirit of the forest and dance around a fire when a person dies, to celebrate or harvest or mark an important visit.

Anthropologist Anne-Sylvie Malbrancke meets Jenny, a young Peruvian who has crossed the entire country to ask the sacred lakes to heal her health problem.

Brazil's Amazon rainforest is home to the Sateré-Mawé people, whose boys undergo a painful rite of passage to adulthood.

In Samoa, extremely painful tattooing is a rite signifying that a man belongs to a group.

Haitians depict monsters or specters in carnival parades to deal with the past and present.

To break down barriers between people, Indians of all castes throw colored powder in the faces of anyone they meet in the ancient Holi festival of colors marking the spring equinox.