Photos of the Week: Ramadan begins; Carnival celebrations

By Kit Doyle · March 4, 2025
 (RNS) — Each week RNS presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo gallery includes the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Carnival celebrations and more. As the sun sets, Palestinians sit at a large table surrounded by the rubble of destroyed homes and buildings as they gather for iftar, the fast-breaking meal, on the first day of Ramadan in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) Muslims participate in a torch parade ahead of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Tangerang, Indonesia, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana) Volunteers prepare plates to be distributed among Muslims breaking their fast during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, at a free meal distribution point in Peshawar, Pakistan Sunday, March 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad) Worshippers perform a prayer called 'Tarawih' during the eve of the first day of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan at the Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel) Palestinians take part in Friday prayers in the ruins of the Omari Mosque, which was partially destroyed by Israeli bombardment, ahead of the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) People hold a banner depicting the Virgin of Guadalupe in handcuffs while protesting against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and migrant detentions at a migrant detention center in Elizabeth, N.J., Monday, March 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) Hindus pour milk, honey and water over the lingam in traditional rituals celebrating Mahashivaratri, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025, at Divya Dham Mandir in Queens, New York. A cannabis plant, foreground, sits next to the lingam, a representation of Lord Shiva. (RNS photo/Richa Karmarkar) Vice President JD Vance addresses the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast on Friday, Feb 28, 2025, at ther Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. (RNS photo/Jack Jenkins) A reveler dressed as Ganesha, a Hindu deity, center, watches the "Ceu na Terra" or "Heaven on Earth" Carnival street party in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado) The Gilles of Binche wear traditional wax masks as they attend Carnival celebrations in Binche, Belgium, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana) A man dressed in animal skins and heavy bronze bells jumps over a burning effigy during Carnival celebrations in Distomo, a village in central Greece, on Monday, March 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Performers from the Unidos de Padre Miguel samba school dance during Carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, March 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo) Archival Photos Four women on a tour to promote fellowship among Christian women are shown at the Great Sphinx and Pyramids of Giza near Cairo, Egypt, in 1955. Left to right: Mrs. David D. Baker of New York, editor of The Church Woman, official publication of United Church Women; Josefina Phodaca of Manila, former president of the United Council of Church Women of the Philippines; Felicia Sunderlal of Dehra Dun, India; and Mrs. James D. Wyker of Columbia, Mo., president of UCW. The two-month tour was sponsored by UCW, a department of the National Council of Churches. (RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.) Wearing colorful costumes, some 30 Korean children from the Sacred Heart kindergarten performed a show for the officers and enlisted men of the destroyer tender USS Piedmont when the ship visited the naval port in Chinhae, South Korea, in 1955. (RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.)
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