A young man shows off the magic string most Cambodians have and believe keeps their bodies from harm.
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Chuk Saw Po has been a Kru Khmer since the age of 7. Here his mother blesses a woman's tongue during a ceremony.
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A young man laughs as he is coined in Phnom Penh. People believe rubbing the skin until it burns or is bruised can relieve pain.
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A stray dog walks past an abandoned house in Prey Dach village, in Battambang Province. Neighbors painted the spirit graffiti on the house after the woman who lived there died from being bitten by a mad dog.
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Kru Khmer Pouman sits amid his accoutrements at his home near Battambang. Most afternoons he prays with dozens of guests looking for good luck and blessings.
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Men pray along with a Kru Khmer Pouman. Pouman also drives out bad spirits from afflicted body parts, cellphones and other things.
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A spirit house frequented by fishermen in the middle of the Tonle Sap Lake, in the middle of Cambodia.
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A woman receives a blessing from a monk at the Temple of the Floating Tree outside Phnom Penh. The blessing comes from pouring water over a sacred elephant tusk.
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Offerings of cooked chickens, lotus flowers, bananas and bottled water at the namesake statue in Battambang town. Locals bring their newborn children to pray here and leave offerings for good luck.
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A sign at the Temple of the Floating Tree outside Phnom Penh.
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Kru Khmer Sun Sao extinguishes candles in his mouth after using them in a blessing ceremony in his home near Siem Reap.
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A woman named Sokha undergoes cupping in a massage parlor near Siem Reap. Believers swear by the procedure, which they say pulls bad spirits and the pain they cause from their bodies.
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People — mostly women — pray for good luck and fertility at Preah Ang Dang Ker, in front of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh. The temple is devoted to the Bodhisattva Lokesvara, who pledged to assist every being on Earth to Nirvana before ascending to Nirvana himself.
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A young girl looks at sacrificed chickens left as payment for granted wishes behind the Yeay Thep ("Big Old Lady") shrine in Siem Reap.
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Kout Tun, at Wat Bai Damram in Battambang province, has been a monk for 10 years. He was a soldier during the Khmer Rouge years, when he got his tattoos to protect his body from bullets. "They shoot but we don't die. Or sometimes their guns don't work," he said, although he admitted some tattooed soldiers died anyway.
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A former soldier who lives and does repair work at Wat Preah Einkosei in Siem Reap shows off the tattoos that did not keep him from danger when he fought for the Cambodian government against the Khmer Rouge.
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Caretakers sleep at noon beneath the incense basin at the namesake statue in Battambang town.
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Tunnaka Bot Bunlay has been a Kru Khmer since the age of 3. He tells fortunes and reads the future for local and national politicians in his home near Siem Reap.
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