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Global Press Journal reporters carry their cameras as they work and live. The moments they capture highlight human connection across the globe.
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Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Family members of the founders of the Periya Thambiran temple make dumplings, or modak, as an offering to commemorate the day the temple was built in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Many people usually attend the celebration, but this year, only family members were present due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Puebla, Mexico
Axin Mazatl, left, and Cozca Kuahutli sprinkle seeds into censers filled with burned copal tree resin at a ceremony at the Tepalcayotl pyramid in Puebla, Mexico. This traditional offering to Mother Earth is based on pre-Hispanic ancestral knowledge and is part of a movement to preserve cultural heritage.
Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Sathiyananthan Amirthambigai, right, pours ghee and grains into a fire during a yajna, a Hindu ritual, as priests look on at the Sekarasasekara Pillaiyar Temple in Inu, Jaffna, Sri Lanka. The yajna is performed in the name of Ganapati Omam for the welfare of the village and to protect its people from the effects of the coronavirus.
San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico
The interior of a foam rubber scale model of a church is displayed in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Mexico. Juan Noé Pérez Santiz, 16, who started making models of churches in 2015, wants to study architecture.
Boudha, Nepal
Yeshe Thinley, a 16-year-old monk, prepares an altar for worship at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery in Boudha, Nepal. The altar holds a kudung, the body of a religious teacher believed to be sacred after they pass away. Kyabje Chokling Rinpoche died in December 2020, and his kudung will be kept in the monastery for one year so his pupils and disciples can pay their last respects.
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Luckson Lamour, left, holds a thurible while Andy Roc adds incense at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. They have performed this task after Mass for the past seven years.
Kathmandu, Nepal
Chandra Kesari Bajracharya makes cotton wicks for butter lamps near the Jana Bahal temple in Kathmandu, Nepal. Tourists and locals who visit the city’s temples purchase the butter lamps for prayer.
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
Rafael Sánchez strolls by the Guadalajara Cathedral in historic downtown Guadalajara, Mexico.
Kathmandu, Nepal
Purushottam Giri Sangeet Acharya, 60, a Hindu holy man known as a sadhu, reads near the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal. He says that after the government announced a lockdown and religious sites closed due to COVID-19, many sadhus chose to leave Pashupatinath, where they lived.
San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico
María Luna participates in a Mayan ceremony in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico. The ceremony honors the fifth anniversary of the declaration of the Maria Eugenia Mountain Wetlands as a sacred place. Locals and members of environmental groups gathered to honor life, Mother Earth and nature. The city of San Cristóbal de las Casas lies in a mountain wetland area, but the city’s growth and demand for housing have increasingly destroyed this natural environment.
Lusaka, Zambia
Emmanuel Zulu worships in the parking lot at Mount Zion Christian Centre in Lusaka, Zambia. The church arranged a drive-in service to avoid overcrowding and prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Orkhon Province, Mongolia
Gantushig Uranchimeg, an 11-year-old monk-in-training, participates in a ceremony to worship ritual vases at Khutagt Lama Gandanshadivlan Monastery in Mongolia’s Orkhon province. The ceremony, known as bumba, is meant to bring blessings and wealth to worshippers.
Kathmandu, Nepal
Priest Santosh Buddhacharya performs puja, a worship ritual, at Swayambhunath stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal. Crowds of Hindu and Buddhist devotees and tourists used to worship at the stupa. But with travel restricted due to the coronavirus, the priests are now the only worshippers.
Baruun Saikhan Mountains, Mongolia
Janaga Baatar, 13, lights a candle at Gandanchoimzadlin Monastery, a temple in the Baruun Saikhan Mountains in southern Mongolia. Janaga says he has come to the monastery daily for three years to chant Buddhist teachings during his breaks from school.
Tecámac, Mexico
Allan Christian Covarrubias, a parish priest at Natividad de la Virgen María, a church in Tecámac, Mexico, gives Sunday Mass via livestream. Religious events have been canceled in Mexico since March 30, along with other public gatherings, due to the coronavirus. Religious events were allowed to resume on May 31, but due to limitations on the number of people able to gather, the online services have continued at Natividad de la Virgen María.
San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico
Guillermo Hernández Pinto, a parish priest in San Cristóbal de las Casas, blesses a palm frond held by Marco Antonio Martínez on Palm Sunday. Ordinarily, the Chiapas city would hold a traditional Mass and procession of worshippers through the streets for the religious holiday, but the tradition was changed this year due to concerns over the spread of the coronavirus. Instead of marching, the parish priest rode to different neighborhoods in a pickup truck, blessing water, pictures and palm fronds along the way.
Zinacantán, Chiapas, Mexico
People celebrating at a festival in honor of patron saint Lorenzo Mártir carry firework bulls on their shoulders in Zinacantán, Mexico. The bulls are made of straw and covered with paper and other materials with fireworks stuffed inside. They are lit after being blessed in church, to the excitement of all the spectators who gather to watch.
Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Worshippers celebrate the Theertha festival at Savalappidy Kanthaswamy Murugan Temple in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. The ritual occurring in the temple pond is performed for Hindu deity Murugan by the temple’s priests, in order to bring protection for the people and their village.
Mexico City, Mexico
Alejandro Piña plays the main organ during a mass in the Chapel of the Assumption in Mexico City. Piña learned to play music for mass when he was 15 years old, and has been doing it for more than 50 years.
Coyoacán, Mexico City, Mexico
The Parish of San Juan Bautista, a Catholic temple located in Coyoacán, a municipality south of Mexico City, provides a silent and peaceful sanctuary in the midst of this loud and busy neighborhood. Constructed in the 16th century and designed in the Baroque style, it is open every day to both locals wishing to pray and to tourists.
Harare, Zimbabwe
Constance Mharapara (front) and Asumta Mudanga (left) sing at Sunday mass at the Lady of the Wayside Parish in Harare, Zimbabwe. The voices of the choir, combined with drums beats and rattles, fill the church with a melodious vibe. Sunday worship here is led by a different choir each week.
Lusaka, Zambia
Archbishop Telesphore George Mpundu, former archbishop for Lusaka Diocese, anoints worshippers with the cross to bless them after an ordination mass in Lusaka, Zambia.
Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Thirunavukarasu Ambalavanar, 75, examines the palms of two women who came to him for predictions about their futures at the Selva Sannithi Murugan temple, a Hindu temple in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Ambalavanar, an astrologer, has been offering this service for 29 years.
Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir
Khanqah-e-Molla, also called the shrine of Shah-e-Hamdan, is one of the oldest shrines in Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir. It was constructed on the banks of the Jhelum River around 1400 AD by Sultan Sikander of the Shah Mir dynasty in honor of Mir Syed Ali Hamdani, the Sufi saint who popularized Islam in Kashmir.