Photos of the Week: Hindu Holi and Jewish Purim

By Kit Doyle · March 18, 2022

(RNS) — Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo gallery includes celebrations of Hindu Holi and Jewish Purim. Revellers celebrate Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, in Mumbai, India, Friday, March 18, 2022. (AP Photo/ Rajanish Kakade) Indians perform rituals around a bonfire during Holi festival celebrations in Ahmedabad, India, Thursday, March 17, 2022. The Hindu festival of colors also marks the advent of spring. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki) People celebrate Holi in Prayagraj, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Friday, March 18, 2022. Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, brings out millions of people, from toddlers to the elderly, to throw colorful powders at one another and play with water balloons and squirt guns. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh) Devotees cheer as colored powder and water is sprayed on them during celebrations marking Holi at the Kalupur Swaminarayan temple in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, March 18, 2022. Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, also marks the advent of spring. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki) The Dalai Lama gestures to indicate that he is in good health during a religious talk at the Tsuglakhang temple in Dharmsala, India, Friday, March 18, 2022. The Tibetan leader made a public appearance after a gap of roughly two years. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)

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Orthodox Jewish men and children, some wearing costumes, celebrate the festival of Purim at a synagogue in Bnei Brak, Israel, Thursday, March 17, 2022. The Jewish holiday of Purim commemorates the Jews' salvation from genocide in ancient Persia, as recounted in the Bible's Book of Esther. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) A woman wears masks in the colors of the Ukrainian flag as Romania's Jewish community celebrates Purim at the Coral Temple synagogue in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Romanian Jews dedicated the Purim 5782 celebration to the Ukrainian people, praying for an end to war. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru) Colorful balloons decorate the entrance as Romania's Jewish community celebrates Purim at the Coral Temple synagogue in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Romanian Jews dedicated the Purim 5782 celebration to the Ukrainian people, praying for an end to war. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru) Rabbi Sholom Krinsky reads from the Scroll of Esther during the Jewish festival of Purim at a synagogue in Vilnius, Lithuania, Thursday, March 17, 2022. The holiday commemorates the Jews' salvation from genocide in ancient Persia, as recounted in the Bible's Book of Esther. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis) A member of the restoration team removes a stone from the floor of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where many Christians believe Jesus was buried and rose from the dead, in the Old City of Jerusalem, Thursday, March 17, 2022. Three Christian communities that have uneasily shared the site for centuries are embarking on a project to restore the ancient stone floor of the Jerusalem basilica. The project includes an excavation that could shed light on the rich history of the church. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean) Reader Photos St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Germantown, Pennsylvania, hosts a service of Solemn Evensong in commemoration of Bishop Barbara Harris, on March 13, 2022. Harris was consecrated in 1989 in the Diocese of Massachusetts, becoming the first female bishop in the Anglican Communion. After retiring in 2002, she remained an active and prominent figure in the Episcopal Church and a role model for younger leaders until her death on March 13, 2020, at age 89. The Episcopal Church will vote in July to add Harris to its calendar of Lesser Feasts and Fasts. Photo by Richard Mammana St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Germantown, Pennsylvania, hosts a service of Solemn Evensong in commemoration of Bishop Barbara Harris, on March 13, 2022. Harris was consecrated in 1989 in the Diocese of Massachusetts, becoming the first female bishop in the Anglican Communion. After retiring in 2002, she remained an active and prominent figure in the Episcopal Church and a role model for younger leaders until her death on March 13, 2020, at age 89. The Episcopal Church will vote in July to add Harris to its calendar of Lesser Feasts and Fasts. Photo by Richard Mammana Archival Photos President John F. Kennedy, second from right, meets with leaders of the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., center, in 1963 at the White House. RNS archive photo by Seth H. Muse. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society. Churchmen were prominent among the 50,000 who gathered in Washington, D.C., on June 19, 1968, for the Solidarity Day march of the Poor People's Campaign. Representatives of the Synod of Virginia of the Presbyterian Church U.S. (Southern) leave the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church where a prayer service for the campaign was held before the rally. As a denomination, the Presbyterian U.S. Church rejected endorsement of Solidarity Day. RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.

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