Photos of the Week: Honoring the Virgin of Guadalupe, Hanukkah preparations and more

By Jessi Dodge · December 16, 2022

(RNS) — Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo gallery includes honoring the Virgin of Guadalupe, Hanukkah preparations and more.

Villagers ride on boats during a celebration in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Barra Vieja, Mexico, Monday, Dec. 12, 2022. Devotees of the Virgin of Guadalupe make the pilgrimage for her Dec. 12 feast day, the anniversary of one of several apparitions of the Virgin Mary witnessed by an Indigenous Mexican man named Juan Diego in 1531. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Dance teacher Felipe Canela is prepared to become Black Santa for a Christmas event by the Favela World organization which develops youth educational activities, in the Caju favela complex of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, Dec. 12, 2022. Favela World presents Black Santa to children in the city's favelas as a Christmas character that better reflects their cultural reality. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, left, and Rabbi Segal Shmoel, right, inspect a giant Hanukkah Menorah, set up by the Jewish Chabad Educational Center ahead of the Jewish Hanukkah holiday, at the Pariser Platz in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

A Muslim priest adjusts a cap of a Hindu priest at the base of martyrs column during a function to pay tribute to war heroes on Victory Day in Kolkata, India, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. The day marks India's victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war to liberate Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)

Little statues of baby Jesus are held by faithful during Pope Francis' Angelus noon prayer in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Dec. 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Catholics attend the first of nine daily dawn Masses before Christmas day at the St. Joseph Parish Church in Las Pinas city, Philippines on Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. Filipinos attend nine consecutive dawn Masses before Christmas as part of traditional Filipino practice in this largely Roman Catholic nation as COVID restrictions eased in the country. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Aparna Shrivastava, right, takes a photo as her partner, Shelby Teeter, gives her a kiss, after President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act, Dec. 13, 2022, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Archival Photos

The excitement and joy of the Christmas season is written all over the faces of children as they meet Santa Claus. They were the guests of honor at the annual fundraising party given for the youngsters of the New York Foundling Hospital and other programs of the New York Catholic archdiocese. As Cardinal Terence Cooke, who hosted the party, said, "When you see the simplicity and joy of these children responding to the love of others, that's the real Christmas spirit of love and concern." Photo by John Lei, courtesy of Presbyterian Historical Society

While many police departments are using decoy Santas to catch thieves during the holiday season, the Baltimore City Police are using one to put summons on parked cars. When the motorist takes time to read it, he discovers it isn't for a parking violation, but a summons to have a happy holiday and a reminder to lock their car. The imaginative approach is part of the department's anti-crime campaign. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society

Dr. Eugene Carson Blake of Philadelphia, President of the National Council of Churches, is fitted with arctic gear at Elmendorf Air Force Base during his Christmas visit to American servicemen and chaplains of the Alaskan command in December 1956. Assisting him is Chaplain (Col.) Martin C. Foch of the Alaskan Command. Dr. Blake made the journey as spiritual ambassador of the National Council's 30 Protestant and Eastern Orthodox Communions and their 144,000 local churches. The visit marks the third consecutive year he has spent the Christmas holidays with the men in the armed forces. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society