Photos of the Week

This week’s gallery includes celebrations such as Purim, Nowruz, and Spring Equinox, among other events.

Children launch kites during Nowruz celebrations as the sun sets in Baghdad, Iraq, on March 21, 2019. Nowruz, the Farsi-language word for

(RNS) — Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s gallery includes celebrations such as Purim, Nowruz, and Spring Equinox, among other events.

Children launch kites as the sun sets during Nowruz celebrations in Baghdad, Iraq, on March 21, 2019. Nowruz, the Farsi-language word for “new year,”  is an ancient Persian festival, celebrated on the first day of spring in Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan and Iran. The festival is a symbolic opportunity to purify the soul for the new year and symbolizes revival and is marked by spring cleaning, buying new clothes and planting trees. March 21, the first day of spring, marks Nowruz. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)


Revelers throw colored powder on a woman during celebrations marking Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, in Mumbai, India, on March 21, 2019. Holi marks the start of Spring. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

Muslims pray during Friday prayers at Hagley Park in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 22, 2019. People across New Zealand observed the Muslim call to prayer as the nation reflects on the moment one week ago when 50 people were slaughtered at two mosques. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

A child wearing a costume runs up the steps during Purim celebrations at the Coral Temple synagogue in Bucharest, Romania, on March 20, 2019. The Purim holiday commemorates the Jews’ salvation from genocide in ancient Persia, as recounted in the Book of Esther. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Aztec dancers perform a ritual to receive the sun’s energy as they celebrate the Spring Equinox near the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico, on March 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

A worker carries a coffin away from the grave site of a victim in the Friday, March 15, mosque shootings, at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 20, 2019. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

A couple participates in fire rituals during Spring Equinox celebrations at Cathedral Square in Vilnius, Lithuania, on March 20, 2019. Elaborate fire designs are created every year in Vilnius. The tradition began in 1992, but it is in accordance with ancient pagan rituals and symbolizes light’s victory against darkness as the day becomes longer that the night with the arrival of Spring. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)

A costumed Jewish Ultra-Orthodox child greets his chief rabbi during the Jewish festival of Purim, in Bnei Brak, Israel, on March 21, 2019. The Jewish holiday of Purim commemorates the Jews’ salvation from genocide in ancient Persia, as recounted in the Book of Esther. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)


A vendor, center, adjusts New Year items and decorations ahead of the Iranian New Year, or Nowruz, or “New Day,” at the Tajrish traditional bazaar in northern Tehran, Iran. The holiday, dating back to at least 1700 B.C. and ancient Zoroastrian traditions, is the most important event in the Iranian calendar and is widely celebrated across the territories of the old Persian empire, from the Mideast to Central Asia. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

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