Photos of the Week: Ethiopian New Year; Prophet Muhammad’s birthday

By Kit Doyle · September 29, 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 Ethiopian New Year, Prophet Muhammad's birthday and more. Religious leaders and Ethiopians celebrate the Ethiopian New Year, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Wednesday, Sept.27, 2023. Meskel, meaning the Cross in Amharic, is an annual religious Ethiopian holiday among Orthodox Christian believers and the first outdoor feast in the Church calendar. (AP Photo) Religious leaders and Ethiopians celebrate the Ethiopian New Year, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Wednesday, Sept.27, 2023. Meskel, meaning the Cross in Amharic, is an annual religious Ethiopian holiday among Orthodox Christian believers and the first outdoor feast in the Church calendar. (AP Photo) A 49-foot statue of Nilkanth Varni greets visitors to the BAPS Akshardham campus in Robbinsville, New Jersey, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023. The largest Hindu temple outside of India will open to the public this October. RNS photo by Richa Karmarkar Elizabeth Alexander, center, reads her poem "American Song" during an unveiling and dedication ceremony at the Washington National Cathedral for the new stained-glass windows with a theme of racial justice, Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023, in Washington. RNS photo by Adelle M. Banks Iraqis march in a procession around the holy Sunni shrine of Abdul-Qadir al-Gailani to mark the Prophet Muhammad's birthday in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) People take part in a rally celebrating the birthday of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, in Lahore, Pakistan, Friday, Sept. 29, 2023. Thousands of Muslims take part in religious processions, ceremonies and the distribution of free meals among the poor to mark the holiday. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary) A Kashmiri Muslim prays as a clergyman displays a relic believed to be a hair from the beard of the Prophet Muhammad, at the Hazratbal shrine on Eid-e-Milad, the birth anniversary of the prophet, in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Sept. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin Muslims sing and dance during a procession dubbed Milaad-un-Nabi, to mark the birth of Prophet Muhammad, in Mombasa, Kenya, Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023. The procession started outside various Mosques and ended at the Muslims Makadara grounds where celebrations were held. The procession is normally held one week before the annual Maulid Festivals, which will be held in Lamu town, about 250 miles north of Mombasa. (AP Photo Gideon Maundu). Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men inspect an etrog, a citrus fruit, to determine if it is ritually acceptable as one of the four items used as a symbol on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, in Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda Market, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023. The Sukkah is built and lived in during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, named for the shelters the Israelites lived in as they wandered the desert for 40 years. The week-long holiday begins Friday. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg) Ultra-orthodox Jews build a Sukkah, a temporary structure built for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023. The Sukkah is built and lived in during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, named for the shelters the Israelites lived in as they wandered the desert for 40 years. The week-long holiday begins Friday. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg) Archival Photos On Sunday, Sept. 22, 1963, the nation's churchgoers joined in memorial services for four Black girls who died when a bomb blasted the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. Here, at St. Dominic's Roman Catholic Church in San Francisco, the more than 2,500 attending services overflowed the building. They fell to their knees on the sidewalk during a Mass offered for the dead children. The priest wore vestments in the "red of martyrdom" instead of the black of mourning. RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society. Archbishop Joseph Beran of Prague, Czechoslovakia, leaves after an audience with Pope Pius XII at the pontiff's summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, circa 1948. RNS archive photo by Felici. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society. Leading figures at the Fifth General Assembly of the Church of Christ in China pose together in Soochow, China, in Oct. 1948. It was the first full meeting of the assembly since 1937. RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.
Related Stories
Photos of the Week: Thanksgiving; Christmas trees
By Kit Doyle
Photos of the Week: Diwali; March for Israel
By Kit Doyle
Photos of the Week: Bolivian skulls; Israel-Hamas reactions
By Kit Doyle
Photos of the Week: Day of the Dead; Maine shootings
By Kit Doyle
Photos of the Week: Romanian saint; Hindu festivals
By Kit Doyle