Natitas Festival celebrations took place in La Paz, Bolivia on Friday, Nov. 8, 2013. Natitas are human skulls from unnamed, abandoned graves that are cared for and decorated by faithful who use them as amulets believing they serve as protection. According to tradition, the skull should belong to an unknown person, but in some cases are those of distant relatives. The devotees say they get the skulls from abandoned cemeteries.

Bolivians, who keep close relatives' skulls at home as a macabre talisman, flock to the cemetery chapel once a year to have the craniums blessed and to bring themselves good luck in the future.

The Roman Catholic church considers the skull festival to be pagan, but it doesn’t prohibit people from participating in it. Mass was not being held at the chapel on Friday, but a bowl of holy water was left out so people could bless the skulls they were carrying in the ritual celebrated a week after Day of the Dead.