Photos of the Week: Ashoura; Hindu Kanwarias

By Kit Doyle · July 21, 2023
 (RNS) — Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo gallery includes Ashoura, Hindu Kanwarias and more. The feet of Hindu pilgrims, known as Kanwarias, are pictured as they pray on the banks of the Ganges in, Prayagraj, India, Sunday, July 16, 2023. Kanwarias are young men performing a ritual pilgrimage in which they walk, sometimes hundreds of miles, to the Ganges River to take its sacred waters back to Hindu temples in their hometowns. During the Hindu lunar month of Shravana, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims can be seen walking the roads of India, clad in saffron, and carrying ornately decorated canisters of water over their shoulders. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh) Hindu pilgrims, known as Kanwarias, gather on the banks of the Ganges in Prayagraj, India, Sunday, July 16, 2023. Kanwarias are young men performing a ritual pilgrimage in which they walk, sometimes hundreds of miles, to the Ganges River to take its sacred waters back to Hindu temples in their hometowns. During the Hindu lunar month of Shravana, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims can be seen walking the roads of India, clad in saffron, and carrying ornately decorated canisters of water over their shoulders. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh) The Rev. Jesse Jackson announces that he is stepping down as the president of Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Saturday, July 15, 2023, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty) Worshippers attend a Mass in the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, July 9, 2023. With tourism reaching or surpassing pre-pandemic levels across Southern Europe this summer, iconic sacred sites struggle to find ways to accommodate both the faithful who come to pray and millions of increasingly secular visitors attracted by art and architecture. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) A group of Ukrainian servicemen pray during a worship service organized by a local Christian church in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, July 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Sister Mary Teresa Bettag, OSF, right, professes her Perpetual Vows as a Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity, Sunday, July 16, 2023, at Franciscan Sisters Holy Family Convent in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The Rev. Paul Fliss, left, and Community Director Sr. Natalie Binsversie, OSF, right, witness the vows. Photo by Mark Kolter Iraqis burn a picture of Sweden's prime minister Ulf Kristersson during a protest in Tahrir Square, Thursday, July 20, 2023, in Baghdad, Iraq. The protest was in response to the burning of Qurans in Sweden. (AP Photo/Adil AL-Khazali) A man talks to the media outside the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, July 15, 2023. The man who said he would burn the Torah and the Bible outside the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm gave up his plan and instead held a one-person demonstration against burning holy books. (Magnus Lejhall/TT News Agency via AP) Members of the Sabean Mandaeans, a pre-Christian sect that follows the teachings of John the Baptist, perform rituals in the Tigris River in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, July 16, 2023. The Sabean Mandaeans are marking the new year, which they celebrate as a five-day holiday. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) Holding U.S. and Israeli flags, a crowd of largely evangelical Christians pray during the Christians United For Israel (CUFI) "Night to Honor Israel" during the CUFI Summit 2023, Monday, July 17, 2023, in Arlington, Va., at the Crystal Gateway Marriott. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) A man walks past the rubble of a demolished al-Siraji Mosque in Basra, Iraq, on Monday, July 17, 2023. An official said the old mosque would be replaced with a modern, better-designed one that would not impede traffic flow. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani) People participate in the Ashoura procession in Peshawar, Pakistan, Friday, July 21, 2023. Ashoura marks the tenth day of the Muslim month of Muharram and commemorates the Battle of Karbala when Imam Hussein, a grandson of Prophet Muhammad, was killed in the 7th century. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad) Archival Photos Four schoolgirls thank the Rev. Craig Biddle III, curate of St. Peter's Episcopal church in Morristown, N.J., for conducting a non-sectarian Ash Wednesday service aboard a Lackawanna commuter train as they exit in Hoboken, N.J., in 1965. Like many of the other travelers, the girls were enthusiastic about the mobile worship experience. RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society. Cardinal Francis Spellman, center, Archbishop of New York, is shown at a dinner given in his honor at the historic Governors Palace, La Fortaleza, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in Oct. 1948. At left is Governor Jesus T. Pinero; at right is the Most Rev. Alfredo Pacini, Papal Nuncio. Cardinal Spellman subsequently travelled to Ponce where he took part in the dedication of the new Catholic University of Santa Maria. RNS archive photo by Hamilton Wright. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.
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