Photos of the Week: Ramadan begins; Day of Silence

By Kit Doyle · March 24, 2023
 (RNS) — Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo gallery includes the start of Ramadan, the Balinese Day of Silence and more. Indonesian Muslims perform an evening prayer called 'tarawih,' marking the first eve of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, at Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 22, 2023. Millions of Muslims in Indonesia are gearing up to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan, with traditions and ceremonies across the world's most populous Muslim-majority country and amid soaring food prices. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) Palestinian volunteers clean the ground outside the Dome of Rock Mosque at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in Jerusalem's Old City, Saturday, March 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean) People visit a market to buy dates and other items ahead of the upcoming Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, in Karachi, Pakistan, Tuesday, March 21, 2023. Muslims across the world will be observing Ramadan, when they refrain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to dusk. Ramadan is expected to officially begin Thursday or Friday in Pakistan, though the timing depends on the alignment of the moon. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan) An official is silhouetted as he uses a telescope to scan the horizon for a crescent moon, which determines the beginning of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 22, 2023. Millions of Muslims in Indonesia are gearing up to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan, with traditions and ceremonies across the world's most populous Muslim-majority country and amid soaring food prices. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim) A Palestinian woman takes photos of her daughter next to a crescent moon-shaped decoration in a market, at the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Jebaliya refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, March 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair) People break their fast after dusk on the first day of Ramadan backdropped by the iconic Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday, March 23, 2023. Abstaining from all food and drink — not even a sip of water is allowed — and sexual intercourse from dawn to sunset during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is regarded as an act of piety and devotion to God and an exercise in self-restraint. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) A woman prays during a reenactment of the Stations of the Cross during Lent at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Managua, Nicaragua, Friday, March 17, 2023. Amid tensions between the Vatican and the Daniel Ortega government, Catholics staged the devotional commemoration of Jesus Christ's last day on Earth in the gardens of the Cathedral due to a police ban on celebrating religious festivities in the streets. (AP Photo/Inti Ocon) People carry models of gods during Melasti, a purification ceremony at Kuta beach, Bali, Indonesia on Sunday, March 19, 2023. The ritual, which is performed ahead of the Balinese Hindu Day of Silence, is held to purify the universe from bad influences, bad deeds and bad thoughts. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati) Children with traditional dress walk during the Melasti, a purification ceremony at Kuta beach, Bali, Indonesia on Sunday, March 19, 2023. The ritual, which is performed ahead of the Balinese Hindu Day of Silence, is held to purify the universe from bad influences, bad deeds and bad thoughts. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati) Men carry giant "ogoh-ogoh" effigies, or bewilder evil spirits, during a parade to celebrate "Nyepi" or Bali's Day of Silence, which falls on Hindu New Year in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday, March 21, 2023. Most Balinese self-reflect and stay at home to observe the holiday quietly. Tourists visiting the island are asked not to leave their hotels and the airport is closed. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati) Califiornia state Sen. Aisha Wahab, foreground, listens to speakers during a news conference where she proposed SB 403, a bill which adds caste as a protected category in the state’s anti-discrimination laws, in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, March 22, 2023. California may become the first state in the nation to outlaw caste-based bias, a safeguard people of South Asian descent say is necessary to protect them from discrimination in housing, education and the tech sector where they hold key roles. (AP Photo/José Luis Villegas) Archival Photos Coretta Scott King joins others in singing at a seminar studying the theology of Martin Luther King, Jr., at Emory University in Atlanta in 1980. From left, the participants are: Dr. Harold De Wolf, who was Dr. King's dissertation advisor at Boston University, Coretta Scott King, Dean Jim L. Waits and Dr. Noel Erskine, both of Emory's Candler School of Theology. Mrs. King was named "Distinguished Lecturer" for the spring series at Candler School of Theology. RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society. The Rev. Anthony Failla, second from right, pastor of St. Finbar's Parish in Brooklyn, celebrates a special Mass in the Great Hall of Ellis Island on April 18, 1980, as a feature of the church's centennial celebration. RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.
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