Photos of the Week: Nine-night Hindu festival, Rosh Hashana
By Kit Doyle · September 24, 2025
(RNS) — Each week RNS presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo gallery includes the start of Jewish High Holy Days, the nine-night Hindu Navaratri festival and more.
Indian women wearing traditional attire pose for pictures as they practice the Garba, a traditional dance of Gujarat state, during a rehearsal ahead of Navaratri, or nine-night festival, in Ahmedabad, India, Sept. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
People listen to a worship song in the overflow area outside before a memorial for conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, gather for a prayer during a Rosh Hashanah holiday dinner outside the prime minister's house in Jerusalem, calling for their release, Monday Sept. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish people make their way to the Western Wall during Rosh Hashanah celebrations, the Jewish new year, in the Old City of Jerusalem, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Buddhist monks chant in a temple before devotees throwing rice on the ground in a ceremony to celebrate Pchum Ben, or Ancestors' Day, at Poun Phnom pagoda in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday morning, Sept. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Choir members admire panels of a new mural painted by artist Adam Cvijanovic at its unveiling at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in New York. The mural, which is the largest permanent artwork commissioned for the cathedral in its 146-year history, celebrates the 1879 Apparition at Knock, Ireland, the faith of generations of immigrants to New York, and the service of New York City's first responders. (Diane Bondareff/AP Content Services for the Archdiocese of New York)
Vinicio Cruz and Carmen Chavez get married during a ceremony inside San Juan de Dios church in Mexico City, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. The church withstood the 8.0 earthquake of 1985, however, its structure was severely damaged in 2017, and it was forced to shut down and reopened in late 2024 after most of its restoration was completed. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)
A couple walk past an image of Jesus Christ and the words 'Peace be with you!' inscribed on the column of the Lutheran Annenkirche Church in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
A priest blesses motorcyclists' helmets during the 10th Pilgrimage of the Blessing of Helmets that draws tens of thousands, at the Roman Catholic holy shrine of Fatima, in Fatima, Portugal, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)
A brass band performs ahead of artists dressed as Hindu deities Rama, left, and Lakshman, right, seated on a chariot pulled by laborers, ahead of a religious procession during the Dussehra festival, also known as Vijayadashami, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, India, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
Scout Troop 228 participates in the U.S. flag retirement ceremony for Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Church during the annual Patriots Day observance at the church in Santa Clarita, Calif., on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Krysta Fauria)
President Donald Trump participates in a bilateral meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Monday, Sept. 15, 2025, in the Oval Office. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)
Archival Photos
The first station wagon "mobile church" was dedicated at the Cutchogue Migrant Labor Camp near Riverhead, Long Island, New York, in 1947. The fleet of station wagons was equipped to provide religious and recreational services for migrant farm workers across the nation. The fleet was operated by the Home Missions Council of North America. Shown at the dedication ceremony are, from left, John G. Sholl, director of the Migrant Labor Commission of New Jersey; Dr. T. Norman Hurd, chairman of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Migrant Labor of New York State; and Howard Whitman, magazine writer. (RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.)
Gardeners and other workers convert the roof of the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican into a private garden for Pope Paul VI in 1965. First window on the left is that of the papal private apartment at which the pope appears to bless pilgrims and other tourists at his Sunday audience. The roof garden was expected to be completed by the time the pope returned from the papal summer villa at Castel Gandolfo in September 1965. (RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.)
