Phu Tho Province, Vietnam
A man puts a wooden dowel symbolising a penis into a wooden block symbolising a vagina during a cultural...
A man (L) puts a wooden dowel symbolising a penis into a wooden block symbolising a vagina during a cultural fertility ceremony at the Tro Tram temple in Vietnam's northern province of Phu Tho, 100 km (62 miles) northwest of Hanoi February 3, 2012. The ritual is northern Vietnam's only fertility ceremony, and it is organised annually by rice farmers to worship fertility parts on midnight between the 11th and 12th days of the first month of the lunar calendar. According to cultural researchers and old villagers, after the ceremony people leave the temple and may have free sexual encounters with others without jealousy for one night. Villagers believe that a successful ceremony will help them have a productivity year in agriculture, livestock and development of the community. REUTERS/Kham (VIETNAM - Tags: SOCIETY AGRICULTURE)