29 JUNE 2014 - DAN SAI, LOEI, THAILAND: Women pray during a ceremony in Wat Ponchai on the last morning of the Ghost Festival. Phi Ta Khon (also spelled Pee Ta Khon) is the Ghost Festival. Over three days, the town's residents invite protection from Phra U-pakut, the spirit that lives in the Mun River, which runs through Dan Sai. People in the town and surrounding villages wear costumes made of patchwork and ornate masks and are thought be ghosts who were awoken from the dead when Vessantra Jataka (one of the Buddhas) came out of the forest. On the last day of the festival people participate in merit making ceremonies at the Wat Ponchai in Dan Sai and lead processions through town soliciting donations for the temple. PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ