Despite a rare rainstorm that inundated the city of Mina, 2.5 million pilgrims performed the ancient rituals without incident.

CNN: U.S. couple from Georgia experiences Hajj pilgrimage

Families, clans, villagers, royalty, fishermen and rice farmers - most are guided by a trust in karma and a set of ancient rituals followed in the many thousands of temples spread across this island, which is barely 90 miles long.

BBC: High spirits in Bali

The new Shanghai stock exchange is built in the shape of a hollowed square to help trap positive energy, a nod to the ancient geomantic rituals of feng shui.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | China: Inside China's Search for Its Soul

Eva Beuys, the artist's widow, still lives in the city, and the gold-hued "Palazzo Regale" installation, with its evocation of ancient burial rituals, coupled with objects recalling the artist's own life, is of supreme importance, says Ms. Temkin.

WSJ: Touring Beuys-World in Germany's Lower Rhine

The physical movements of the performers evoke those of a pythoness at traditional rituals of ancient Okinawa.

UNESCO: Culture

Another way you can schmooze is to get a shoeshine, that most ancient and urban of male rituals, with its attendant smells of leather and shoe polish.

FORBES: Social Networking for Men, Old Style