Photos of the Week: Romanian saint; Hindu festivals

By Kit Doyle · October 27, 2023
 (RNS) — Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo gallery includes a variety of Hindu festivals, the procession of a Romanian saint and more. Women dance in front of an idol of Hindu goddess Durga before it is immersed in the Hooghly River in Kolkata, India, Oct. 24, 2023. The immersion of idols marks the end of the festival that commemorates the slaying of a demon king by the lion-riding, 10-armed goddess Durga, marking the triumph of good over evil. (AP Photo/Bikas Das) Effigies of demon king Ravana's brother, Kumbhakarna, and his son, Meghanada, go up in flames marking the end of Dussehra festival in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023. Dussehra commemorates the triumph of Hindu god Rama over the demon king Ravana, marking the victory of good over evil. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan) People participate in Navaratri festival celebrations in India Square in Jersey City, New Jersey, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023. (RNS photo/Richa Karmarkar) An idol of Hindu goddess Durga is lifted on a crane for immersion into the Hussain Sagar Lake during the last day of Durga Puja festival in Hyderabad, India, Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023. The festival commemorates the slaying of a demon king by the lion-riding, 10 armed goddess Durga, marking the triumph of good over evil. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.) Israeli Americans and supporters hold displays of kidnapped individuals, calling for their return, as they gather around an installation in Times Square featuring a 222-seat Shabbat (Sabbath) table set, a symbolic representation of hostages still held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) Palestinian Muslim worshipers who were prevented from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque pray outside Jerusalem's Old City as Israeli forces stand guard, Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Mahmoud illean) A girl stands among priests before the Saint Dimitrie Bassarabov procession through Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) A woman takes pictures on a mobile phone as priests walk during procession for the Saint Dimitrie Bassarabov, patron saint of the Romanian capital, in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) People touch a metal case said to contain the remains of Saint Dimitrie Bassarabov, the patron saint of the Romanian capital, before a procession, in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023. Romanian Orthodox worshipers celebrate Saint Dimitrie Bassarabov, with thousands waiting in line for long hours to touch the remains of the saint. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru) Kashmiri Muslims pray as a cleric displays a relic of Sufi saint Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani outside his shrine in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin) Archival Photos Students at John Deere Junior High School worship in song and prayer before school in Moline, Ill., in 1955. The "Crusaders," as they called themselves, met for a half hour before classes in the school's auditorium to pray, sing hymns and listen to a short inspirational talk. The group was organized three years earlier by Lee McAlister, the group's faculty adviser. Some 35 students from the 7th, 8th and 9th grades were members. RNS archive photo by Lynn L. Ash. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society. The Rev. Bede Ferrara, a Franciscan priest of Lynn, Mass., smiles as he shows the t-shirt given to him by Allyssa Keough, of Brookline, Mass., whose father, William, was one of the 50 hostages being held by militants in Iran in 1980. Ferrar, who conducted a prayer crusade for the captives in Catholic and non-Catholic churches throughout the northeast, ended his series on Palm Sunday with a service at historic Old North Church in Boston. RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of Presbyterian Historical Society. The Rev. Paul McBride uses a radio-telephone to keep track of his emergency calls and appointments in Tulsa, Oklahoma, circa Oct. 1948. RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.
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