Wearing heavy face makeup and elaborate costumes, boys aged between seven and 14 prepared to be ordained as Buddhist novices during the Poy Sang Long festival in northern Thailand this week. 

Poy Sang Long is an annual ceremony of the Yai Tai, an ethnic group in northern Thailand and Shan state in neighboring Myanmar.

During the three-day festival, the boys have their heads shaved and put on makeup, jewelry, flower headpieces and costumes resembling those worn by a Yai Tai prince. 

On the third day of the ceremony, the boys swap their fancy costumes for humble saffron robes and take their novice monastic vows.