Book DescriptionTwenty-five thousand Swazi virgins dance for the Queen Mother. People who have had near-death experiences in Spain ride in open coffins and thank Santa Marta for their lives. Half-a-million Bolivians pray to Mother Earth and the Virgin Mary for cell phones, sewing machines, televisions, and Tudor houses. Polish girls float wreaths of wildflowers on the river. Berber divorcees invite Moroccan shepherds to marry them. In Thailand, an entire city honors the women who saved their ancestors from invaders. Couples from across the world race over obstacles in Finland's World Wife Carrying Championships. In China, seafaring families ride in boats as a tribute to the Goddess of the Fishermen. And in the United States, women represent each of the fifty states in a competition for the famed title, Miss America. In Celebrating Women, photographer Paola Gianturco trains her eye on the world's most vibrant festivals that honor women as goddesses, warriors, lovers, healers, and...