New-year celebrations around the world, the 2023 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia, heavy rain and flooding in California, an ice festival in China, a traditional Epiphany parade in Spain, an inflatable dinosaur in Chile, a tiny toad at the London Zoo, and much more
Photos of the Week: Snow Cannons, Ski Jumping, Light Pillars
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![Several people stand together wearing large bearskin costumes.]()
Read moreA reveler wearing a bearskin costume poses during the Bearskin Parade in Comanesti, Romania, on December 30, 2022. More than 200 "bears" and dozens of musicians, surrounded by police and tourists, took part in the year-end event. Young men and women dressed in real bearskin and traditional costumes paraded to chase away the evil spirits of the coming year. #
Daniel Mihailescu / AFP / Getty -
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![A man leans out of a balcony to touch the head of a large inflatable dinosaur.]()
Read moreChile's President Gabriel Boric stretches to touch "Saurian," an inflatable dinosaur, part of a night parade titled "Saurian and the Witnesses of Outer Space" by the French Plasticiens Volants company, at La Moneda Presidential Palace in Santiago, Chile, on January 3, 2023. #
Javier Torres / AFP / Getty -
![A person places a red light at the foot of an ancient stone statue.]()
Read moreA worker installs a light to illuminate a Moai one day before the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, in Hanga Roa, Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, on November 24, 2022. Photo released on December 31, 2022. #
Esteban Felix / AP -
![Dozens of red-robed cardinals sit in rows.]()
Read moreCardinals attend the solemn funeral service of the late Pope Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, led by Pope Francis, in St. Peter's Square, on January 5, 2023, in Vatican City. #
Alessandra Benedetti / Corbis / Getty -
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![A ski jumper in mid-air with a large crowd below, watching]()
Read moreSpectators watch Austria's Philipp Aschenwald in action during the first round of the men's HS137 during the Four Hills Ski Jumping Tournament in Oberstdorf, Germany, on December 29, 2022. #
Lisi Niesner / Reuters -
![A huge crowd fills a Paris boulevard at night.]()
Read moreRevelers watch a sound-and-light show projected on the Arc de Triomphe as they celebrate the new year on the Champs Élysées, in Paris, France, on December 31, 2022. #
Aurelien Morissard / AP -
![Fireworks light up the London skyline over Big Ben and the London Eye.]()
Read moreFireworks light up the London skyline over Big Ben and the London Eye just after midnight on January 1, 2023, in London, England. #
Dan Kitwood / Getty -
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![Fireworks explode above a mountaintop, illuminating more mountains in the background.]()
Read moreFireworks are seen early on New Year's Day in front of the Alps' Northern Range (Nordkette) near Innsbruck, Austria, on January 1, 2023. #
Christof Stache / AFP / Getty -
![People in a crowd embrace as a light show happens in the background.]()
Read moreVisitors celebrate the new year at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, on January 1, 2023. #
Adam Berry / Getty -
![Hundreds of Buddhist monks gather in rows beneath a golden dome.]()
Read moreBuddhist monks pray during the mass alms-giving ceremony for the new year at Wat Phra Dhammakaya Buddhist Temple in Pathum Thani, Thailand, on January 1, 2023. #
Sirachai Arunrugstichai / Getty -
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![A performer hangs from a wire beneath a cloud-shaped cluster of white balloons.]()
Read moreAn actress performs outside City Hall during the traditional Epiphany parade in Madrid, Spain, on January 5, 2023. #
Juan Medina / Reuters -
![Pillars of light seem to reach into the night sky above a residential neighborhood.]()
Read moreLight pillars, an optical atmospheric phenomenon, appear behind residential buildings on a cold night in Omsk, Russia, on January 2, 2023. #
Alexey Malgavko / Reuters -
![People look toward the Taj Mahal on a cold and foggy morning.]()
Read morePeople look toward the Taj Mahal on a cold and foggy winter morning in Agra, India, on January 1, 2023. #
Pawan Sharma / AFP / Getty -
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![A snowy owl perches on a roof.]()
Read moreA snowy owl is seen on a roof in Cypress, California, on December 31, 2022. Crowds of bird-watchers have been visiting an Orange County neighborhood to gawk at the bird, which is normally found in the Arctic, Canada, and the northern U.S. #
Nick Ut / Getty -
![People gather among many illuminated ice sculptures.]()
Read morePeople visit the Harbin Ice and Snow World in China's northeastern Heilongjiang province on January 5, 2023, during the opening ceremony of the 39th Harbin China International Ice and Snow Festival. #
Hector Retamal / AFP / Getty -
![Snow cannons blow plumes of snow onto dry, brown grass.]()
Read moreSnow cannons operate because of a lack of snow at the Peyragudes ski resort in southwestern France on January 5, 2023. #
Charly Triballeau / AFP / Getty -
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![Illuminated birdlike sculptures glow among tree branches.]()
Read moreVisitors look at the "L'Envol" art installation by French light installation artists Pitaya Light, part of the Lux Helsinki light festival in Helsinki, Finland, on January 4, 2023. #
Alessandro Rampazzo / AFP / Getty -
![Several riot police officers are caught in a fireworks explosion.]()
Read moreRiot police officers clash with demonstrators as protests continue following the arrest of Santa Cruz governor and right-wing opposition leader Luis Fernando Camacho over an alleged coup in 2019, in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, on January 2, 2023. #
Agustin Marcarian / Reuters -
![A group of people carry a small shrine into the sea.]()
Read moreWorshippers carry a "Mikoshi," or portable shrine, in the sea during a festival to wish for calm ocean waters and good fortune in the new year, in Oiso, Kanagawa prefecture, west of Tokyo, Japan, on January 1, 2023. #
Kim Kyung-Hoon / Reuters -
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![A large crowd of people gathers on rocks along a waterfall.]()
Read moreOn New Year's Day, visitors crowd around Marble Rocks Waterfall on the Narmada river in Bhedaghat, on the outskirts of Jabalpur, India, on January 1, 2023. #
Uma Shankar Mishra / AFP / Getty -
![An aerial shot of a car sitting sideways on a road that is mostly inundated with floodwater.]()
Read moreA vehicle turns around on a flooded road in Sebastopol, California, on January 5, 2023. Excessive rain, heavy snow, and landslides are expected to wallop California through Thursday as a series of winter storms rip across the western U.S. coast, prompting Governor Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency. #
Josh Edelson / AFP / Getty -
![Four civilians sit in a small boat alongside a coffin, crossing a river near a destroyed road bridge.]()
Read moreA woman sits with others in a boat crossing the Siverskyy Donets river near Staryi-Saltiv, in Ukraine's Kharkiv region on January 4, 2023, transporting a coffin containing her dead son, a soldier who was killed in fighting with Russians. #
Erik Marmor / AP -
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![Several people leap playfully into a lake.]()
Read moreMembers of the Sopelek Swimming Club are seen during the New Year's Day swim at Lake Zwirownia, in Rzeszow, Poland, on January 1, 2023. #
Artur Widak / Anadolu Agency / Getty -
![An aerial shot of a man swimming near several sharks]()
Read moreSandbar sharks swim next to a snorkeler in the Mediterranean Sea near a power plant off the coast of Hadera, Israel, on December 30, 2022. #
Ariel Schalit / AP -
![A very small toad sits on a calculator.]()
Read moreA Majorcan midwife toad sits on a calculator during the annual stocktake at ZSL London Zoo in London, England, on January 3, 2023. #
Justin Tallis / AFP / Getty -
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![Fireworks explode over city buildings.]()
Read moreFireworks explode over buildings during New Year's celebrations in Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines, on January 1, 2023. #
Ezra Acayan / Getty -
![Revelers take photos during a fireworks-and-laser show.]()
Read moreRevelers take photos during a fireworks-and-laser show as they celebrate the new year next to Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong on January 1, 2023. #
Isaac Lawrence / AFP / Getty -
![People make a heart shape with their fingers to capture the sun rising in the background.]()
Read morePeople make a heart-shaped gesture as they look at the first sunrise of the year during New Year's celebrations at a park in Seoul, South Korea, on January 1, 2023. #
Chung Sung-Jun / Getty -
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![Illuminated decorations featuring Chinese writing hang from trees.]()
Read moreIlluminated decorations featuring ancient Chinese poems hang from trees at the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda scenic area in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China, on January 4, 2023. #
VCG / Getty -
![Four women are silhouetted against the setting sun as they hold up number-shaped balloons spelling out "2023."]()
Read moreWomen are silhouetted against the setting sun as they hold up number-shaped balloons on New Year's Eve in Bhopal, India, on December 31, 2022. #
Gagan Nayar / AFP / Getty -
![Two motorcycle riders race through a rocky desert landscape.]()
Read moreRiders race during stage three of the 2023 Dakar Rally, from Alula to Ha'il in Saudi Arabia, on January 3, 2023. #
Hamad I Mohammed / Reuters -
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![An elevated view of tightly terraced steep hillsides, covered by snow]()
Read moreA view of the Jiabang terraced fields after a snowfall in Congjiang County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou province, China, on December 29, 2022. #
VCG / Getty -
![Mountain cliffs meeting the ocean]()
Read moreSnowy mountains illuminated by the sun meet the Atlantic Ocean near Miðvágur Village, on Vágar, Faroe Islands, on December 29, 2022. #
Sergei Gapon / Anadolu Agency / Getty -
![A huge sculpture of a face made out of flowers]()
Read moreA close view of a float decorated with flowers and other natural elements, which was featured in the 134th Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, on January 2, 2023. #
Mario Anzuoni / Reuters -
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![A cat wearing sunglasses rests on a small bed outside a gift shop.]()
Read moreA cat named Sülo relaxes outside a shop in Istanbul's Sultanahmet Square, in Turkey, on December 30, 2022. #
Murat Sengul / Anadolu Agency / Getty
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