Europe

Northern Spain’s La Vijanera festival

Northern Spain’s La Vijanera festival

13 Photos

The La Vijanera masquerade, of pre-Roman origin, took place in the small village of Silio, northern Spain, on Sunday. It is the first carnival of the year in Europe symbolizing the triumph of good over evil and involving the participation of crowds of residents wearing different masks, animal skins and brightly colored clothing. The festival has its own complex function and symbolism in becoming the living example of the survival of archaic cults to nature.
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This week in history… Elvis debuts, Scopes trial begins and Wyoming becomes a state

This week in history… Elvis debuts, Scopes trial begins and Wyoming becomes a state

15 Photos

Every week in the year has good history in it somewhere, if you go back far enough. The week of July 5 through July 11 has seen some very important moments in the past decades and centuries, involving music, pop culture, sports and significant world events. Here are some of the highlights.

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Rare, dazzling supertide envelops France’s Mont Saint-Michel

Rare, dazzling supertide envelops France’s Mont Saint-Michel

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A supertide turned France’s famed Mont Saint-Michel into an island on Saturday and then retreated out of sight, delighting thousands of visitors who came to see the rare phenomenon.

The so-called “tide of the century” actually happens every 18 years. Although the tide rushes in and out along the whole northern French coast, it’s especially dramatic at the UNESCO world heritage site, an ancient abbey normally linked to the mainland only by a narrow causeway at high tide. – Associated Press
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A look at life in one of Europe’s least populated regions

A look at life in one of Europe’s least populated regions

24 Photos

A generation after the last of the sawmills that were its economic lifeblood shut down, a vast region of Central Eastern Spain less than two hours from Madrid has become one of the biggest population deserts in Europe, rivaling parts of the Arctic. For the area’s graying inhabitants — seniors outnumber primary schoolers 4 to 1 — the daily rhythms of work and play have grown more elongated — one boy, the only boy in his village, travels 40 miles to school — or less steady — an unemployed electrician tries his hand at taxidermy to make ends meet — but beat on nonetheless, as Getty Images photographer David Ramos documents in this intimate diary.

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As horsemeat scandal widens in Europe, a visit to the Skaryszew horse fair

As horsemeat scandal widens in Europe, a visit to the Skaryszew horse fair

24 photos

Polish animal rights campaigners heckled traders at the Skaryszew horse fair, one of Europe’s biggest horse-trading fairs, in the wake of a horsemeat scandal in Europe. Horse breeders have been coming to the open-air fair on the same day every year for the past three centuries, but the tradition has come under pressure from activists. Photos taken by Peter Andrews of Reuters on Feb. 18.

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