The photographs show children during the mid-Autumn Harvest Festival, or Tet Trung Thu in Vietnam, a children's festival associated with the full moon. Tet Trung Thu follows the harvest in the eighth lunar month, falling usually during September or October, and is associated with the ascendancy of the moon over the sun in winter, the bounty of life, and prayers for the return of the sun's warmth and light. According to some accounts, it is a time especially devoted to children after the work of farming and the busy harvest time. During the Tet Trung Thu holiday, children bang on drums and wear masks like a lion or tiger to frighten Ra Hu, the mythological creature responsible for the moon's phases and eclipses, to prevent him from gobbling up the full moon. Traditional Vietnamese handcrafted lanterns are an important part of the ceremony, as shown in the photograph of a shop displaying a wide variety of the toys. Traditional lantern shapes include: a five-star lantern to represent the sun, a frog-shape to represent the moon, and a spinning lantern to represent the earth's seasons. Another spinning lantern propelled by the heat of a candle burning inside is a symbol of the earth's seasonal revolution around the sun. The photograph from around 1900 shows a boy playing with a lantern in the shape of a rabbit. In recent years, commentators have been lamenting the fact that imported plastic toys from China are displacing the Vietnamese handicraft toys, threatening extinction of Vietnamese skills and design traditions.

The full moon appears reddish in color and larger when it rises in the fall, and this festival is also associated with folk tales about the moon. Among them is the story of Cá hóa Rông, a carp who strove hard to become a dragon and succeeded. Another story is about Trang Yi, The Lady in the Moon who took an immortality potion intended for her husband. She began to rise into the sky and became the Goddess of the Moon who appears in mid-Autumn to receive offerings. The celebration is believed to date back thousands of years to the beginning of settled agriculture in Southeast Asia, and is popular to the present day in Vietnam and among Vietnamese living overseas. Tet Trung Thu is associated with holiday foods. Moon cakes (pastries with nuts and bean paste) sometimes include egg yolk on the inside, which is meant to symbolize the full moon. The moon cakes are given to friends, neighbors, and business associates as gifts. Evening visits to pagodas and temples, with prayers, incense, and fruit and flower offerings, complete the celebrations.

In the weeks and months before the start of Ramadan, the ninth lunar month when Muslims fast, traditional workshops like the one on Ahmad Maher Street in the medieval quarter of Cairo, turn recycled tin cans into glittering lanterns. In this "Street of the Lanterns," skills in cutting, hammering, perforating and framing colored glass that have been passed down through artisan families (who usually make ordinary items for the household), are set to the task of making the traditional Ramadan lanterns for children. Brass and tin strips cut from cans of cooking oil, fish, kerosene and cheese become the base, top, and frames for colored glass panes formed into numerous shapes. Many of the lanterns conform to a simple, tapered form like a carriage lamp. Others are shaped like multi-pointed stars, crescents called “a big slice of watermelon,” or simply very large and elaborately decorated versions of the smaller ones, but nearly as tall as an adult. Many of the artisans began making the lamps when they were 10 or 15 years old, like the boy in the photograph. Sitting cross-legged on the floor next to the older workers—likely a father, and uncle or grandfather—the youngest workers carry out the simple task of preparing the metal strips with tin snips and simple vice-like tools for drawing the metal straight and smooth. The older, more skilled artisans pierce designs, solder the metal strips, and frame the cut pieces of glass with tin or brass. A base for the candle, a lid, and a ring for hanging complete the lantern. In the second photograph, partly-finished lamps are visible. In the days before Ramadan, the lamps are hung in the shop on long poles for purchase.

While the sharp metal edges can injure young workers, the child labor nevertheless falls within the International Labor Organization guidelines. Acceptable work includes children helping parents around the home, earning pocket money after school and on holidays, and even helping in a family business. Such activity is viewed as beneficial to children's development and socialization. Unacceptable child labor, in contrast, is harmful to physical and mental development, to children's dignity, and "deprives children of their childhood." 1

The fish mobile above is a type traditionally hung over the cradle in Thailand. It is made from the folded, woven leaves of the palm, especially in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province. The fish depicted is the Thai barb, or carp, which is a symbol of prosperity. The smaller fish, the offspring of the larger one, are thought to symbolize fertility. The custom of making the woven mobiles is indigenous to Thai Muslims, particularly the spice traders who sailed in houseboats along the Chao Phraya River. Fish mobiles are also placed in the entry of homes and shops as a harbinger of good fortune. The text describing the custom is from the 1948 book by Phya Anuman Rajadhon (1888-1969) Customs Connected with Birth and the Rearing of Children. The author is a prolific and well regarded literary figure and university professor. Although he did not receive formal academic training in anthropology, his writings have constituted a major source for anthropologists and others on customs from Siam, the traditional name for Thailand.

The text and photographs above describe a traditional Thai birth ritual that celebrates the child's reaching the milestone of one month old, at which time its survival seems more assured than at birth, and it becomes a full-fledged member of the family. Before the infant is one month old, according to tradition, it may have belonged merely to spirits. At this time, a Buddhist monk cuts the infant's hair. "Fire hair" refers to the hair with which the child was born and that grows until the end of its mother's postpartum period of lying in, or lying near the fire as Phya Anuman described the custom. The photograph shows the monk cutting or shaving the hair. The hair is placed on a small raft made of banana leaf and set afloat. The second part of the ceremony involves tying unspun cotton threads around the child's wrists and ankles.

This ceremony of the "khwan," the soul or life spirit, is a prominent object of ritual, and the text describing the custom is from Phya Anuman Rajadhon's (1888-1969) Customs Connected with Birth and the Rearing of Children (1948). The author is a prolific and well regarded literary figure and university professor. Although he did not receive formal academic training in anthropology, his writings have constituted a major source for anthropologists and others on customs from Siam, the traditional name for Thailand. The photographs are from the baby photo album on a website by Thailand's most prominent teenage blogger, Panrit "Gor" Daoruang, who began an online diary at the age of twelve, and chronicled his own life and aspects of Thai culture and contemporary life, and teaching both English and Thai language through stories, quizzes and audio files. The site attracted the attention of the Office of the National Culture Commission for its value in promoting Thailand's image to a worldwide audience.

Theodore de Bry included this colorful engraving in his publication of Hariot's, A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (1590). It was based on a watercolor by John White (fig. 2) painted five or six years earlier. Despite their differences, in both versions a mother is standing with her 8- to 10-year-old daughter who is wearing a string of beads and a leather string around her waist (tied to another holding moss between her legs). The girl is holding an English "puppet" or "poppet." In 16th century England, wax dolls (of adult women) like this one were mass-produced from molds. According to Hariot, a scientific advisor who sailed to Roanoke in 1585-6 and collaborated with John White while colonizing the mid-Atlantic region, the native people were "greatlye delighted” with the "puppets and babes" "broughte oute of England." The rattle, which did not appear in John White's water color, was a popular toy in early modern Europe.

Representations like these can be useful sources of information about Native-American children. However, those who produced them drew upon artistic traditions and Western cultural values in their often embellished and stylized representations of indigenous children. As a result, these visual sources must be used critically, cautiously, and comparatively. For instance, how does the girl in John White’s watercolor compare with one in the lavish engraving? Also compare the girl in the hand-painted illustration to the boy in the 1705 engraving published in The History and Present State of Virginia, In Four Parts (fig. 3).

What might account for the change in the sex of the child and the toys in their hands? Robert Beverley did write this book just a few years after his 16-year-old wife died while giving birth to their only son. In what ways might the boy also have served as a more suitable representation of emergent Enlightenment notions of childhood innocence and activity at the dawn of the 18th century?

Krishna is known in the stories of the Bhagavata-Purana as the 8th incarnation of the god Vishnu, destined to perform great deeds and remove the evils of the world. Shown in this Indian miniature watercolor painting as a child with grey-blue skin, he is a popular deity, a divine hero who personifies superhuman powers as well as human hopes and failings. Stories of Krishna's childhood with his loving foster-mother Yashoda in a village of cow-herds are much beloved and illustrated in paintings and sculpture.

The first demon to threaten the infant Krishna was the flying ogress Putana who abducted and killed infants and children by feeding them poison milk from her breasts. Putana, in the form of a beautiful woman, came to the house of Yashoda to kill Krishna. Yashoda did not recognize the danger, and allowed Putana to nurse the infant Krishna. Krishna, destroyer of wickedness, was immune to the poison. Holding fast to her breast, he sucked her milk and with it, sucked the life out of the ogre. Putana writhed with convulsions making the ground shake. As Krishna held her, she assumed her ugly form and fell to the ground, uprooting trees over a wide area. The villagers approached the corpse to find Krishna playing on top of her. As the painting shows, the villagers chopped Putana into pieces and prepared a cremation fire. The women and Yashoda bathed Krishna lovingly, rocking his body over a basin and gently pouring the water into a stream over a cow's tail.

The miniature painting belongs to the Pahari style of the Himalayan foothills, a courtly style of the Rajput kings that flourished from the 17th to the 19th century.

Krishna is known in the stories of the Bhagavata-Purana as the 8th incarnation of the god Vishnu, destined to perform great deeds and remove the evils of the world. Shown in this Indian miniature watercolor painting as a child with grey-blue skin, he is a popular deity, a divine hero who personifies superhuman powers as well as human hopes and failings. Stories of Krishna’s childhood with his loving foster-mother Yashoda in a village of cow-herds are much beloved and illustrated in paintings and sculpture.

This painting, which measures 22.5 x 30.5 centimeters, illustrates Krishna defeating a whirlwind. According to the Bhagavata Purana, when Krishna was five months old, he was attacked by Trinavart, the demon of storm and whirlwind. The demon took hold of the child Krishna and spun with him in the air. While Yashoda and others anxiously searched for the child, he gripped the demon with tenacious strength, causing it to fall to its death on a huge rock. Krishna landed safely, cushioned by the monster’s body. In awe of his feat, Yashoda picked up the child and hugged him to her bosom while the other women looked on with affection.

The miniature painting is dated to 1770 CE, and belongs to the Pahari style of the Himalayan foothills, a courtly style of the Rajput kings that flourished from the 17th to the 19th century. This painting shows little of the ordinary surroundings of the village, focusing instead on the supernatural whirlwind, ominous sky, bent trees, and blowing curtain. Krishna appears three times in the same panel, showing the dramatic sequence of events from right to left across a single panel, in a narrative technique sometimes used by comic book artists on splash pages today, in which all the action appears in one frame.

Krishna is known in the stories of the Bhagavata-Purana as the 8th incarnation of the god Vishnu, destined to perform great deeds and remove the evils of the world. Shown in this Indian miniature watercolor painting as a child with grey-blue skin, he is a popular deity, a divine hero who personifies superhuman powers as well as human hopes and failings. Stories of Krishna's childhood with his loving foster-mother Yashoda in a village of cow-herds are much beloved and illustrated in paintings and sculptures.

This painting reflects Krishna's mischievous prank of entering houses and stealing cream, curds, and butter while the women are absorbed in household chores. To reach the pots hanging from the ceiling, he climbs on the back of another boy, stacks pots or grinding mortars on top of each other, or sometimes knocks holes in the pottery containers. He then feeds monkeys or his village playmates. As shown in the painting, Yashoda tried to restrain him by tying cords to a heavy grinding mortar. Hearing a loud crash, she found that he had dragged the mortar between two trees and felled them. In some versions, Krishna's action releases two men imprisoned in these trees. As always, Yashoda appears to scold him, but like the other village women, is disarmed by his charms.

The miniature painting measures 18.4 x 12.7 centimeters, and is dated to 1810 C.E. It belongs to the Pahari style of the Himalayan foothills, a courtly style of the Rajput kings that flourished from the 17th to the 19th century. The painting shows many details of village life, though more ornate and idealized than in reality. Attributes such as affection shown to children, implements and scenes of daily life and homes, and traditional dress are portrayed in the painted space.

The carved stone relief is from the interior of Candi Mendut, a Buddhist temple in Central Java. Mendut was built during the early Shailendra dynasty in about 824 CE. It may have been built on the site of a Hindu temple from a previous century. The rectangular, stone temple is 26.4 meters (86.6 feet) tall and is constructed on a 2 meter (6.5 feet) platform. The surrounding wall is covered with reliefs that relate stories from Buddhist teachings along with lush carvings of plants, fruits, and flowers. This relief is one of a pair showing the goddess Hariti and her husband Kuwera (or Kubera in Sanskrit).

The relief panel on the north wall opposite Hariti depicts her consort or husband, a figure by the name of Kuwera, or the yaksha Avataka, also sometimes called Panchika. Kuwera is a god of wealth and well-being, and is a guardian of children. According to legend, Kuwera is king of the yakshas, the god of wealth who was transformed by an encounter with the Buddha into an important defender of Buddhism. Kuwera is depicted sitting on a bench surrounded by children playing and helping each other climb fruit trees. Kuwera wears an ornate headdress surrounded by flying parrots, and his right leg is extended over the edge of the bench, under which sit pots filled with jewels or other riches. Versions of such depictions of Kuwera and Hariti are found in many Buddhist temples. In Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist mythology, figures called yakshas are derived from nature spirits who may be benign or monstrous.

The carved stone relief is from the interior of Candi Mendut, a Buddhist temple in Central Java. Mendut was built during the early Shailendra dynasty in about 824 CE. It may have been built on the site of a Hindu temple from a previous century. The rectangular, stone temple is 26.4 meters (86.6 feet) tall and is constructed on a 2 meter (6.5 feet) platform. The surrounding wall is covered with reliefs that relate stories from Buddhist teachings along with lush carvings of plants, fruits, and flowers. This relief is one of a pair showing the goddess Hariti and her husband Kuwera.

Hariti, depicted in the south panel, is a symbol of good fortune and fertility, but this was not always so. The narrative of Hariti represents the dangers of childhood mortality. In a story with several versions, Hariti was a, ogress, or demoness who had many children, but who hunted and ate human children. One day, the Buddha hid her children and as she searched frantically to recover them, she saw the evil of her ways. She repented and became a guardian to children and a symbol of fertility and good fortune.

The relief panel, shown in many Buddhist temples, depicts Hariti sitting on a bench with a child on her lap and another climbing onto her shoulder. Children play all around her, helping each other climb fruit trees and enjoying games. Under the bench is a bowl of mangoes, a symbol of fertility. Parrots fly above her head. Hariti’s cult as a special guardian of children and women in childbirth traveled widely, expressing the ever-present threat of death especially to children. Hariti is known in Central Asia and in China, and possibly even Japan, where she is similar to the protective boddhisattva Kannon.