Global Press Journal Connections: The World in Photos

Sainshand, Dornogovi province, Mongolia

Otgonchimeg Baldanjamts stands at an altar after offering money to the gods at Khamar Monastery in Sainshand, Dornogovi province, Mongolia. Some worshippers believe the monastery, founded in 1820, is the center of energy in the world.

Photo by Nansalmaa Oyunchimeg

Bulgan. Umnugovi province, Mongolia

Gankhuyag Batsukh prays in front of a Buddha statue at Khuurkhun Devseg, a monastery in Bulgan, Umnugovi province, Mongolia. Gankhuyag says, “We are praying for our mountains and rivers.”

Photo by Nansalmaa Oyunchimeg

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Patience Bhani, right, holds incense during a 90th-anniversary celebration of the Anglican Church in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. The church has helped build schools and hospitals around the country.

Photo by Fortune Moyo

Jaffna, Sri Lanka

Devotees, some carrying milk pots on their heads, walk to Inuvil Kandaswamy Temple in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. In this town, worshippers bring milk and freshly harvested paddy to the temple to commemorate Thaipusam during a Hindu harvest festival.

Photo by Vijayatharsiny Thinesh

Bulgan. Umnugovi province, Mongolia

Tsevelmaa Rolgor offers milk to honor mountain deities at Khuurkhun Devseg, a monastery in Bulgan, Umnugovi province, Mongolia. Visitors must climb 1,080 stairs to reach the mountaintop monastery.

Photo by Nansalmaa Oyunchimeg

Mannar, Sri Lanka

Pakiyam Sebamalai, left, and Solai Valliyamma weave flowers into garlands in Mannar, Sri Lanka. Hindu worshippers often visit temples on Friday evenings to make garlands and offer them to the gods.

Photo by Vetrichelvi Chandrakala

San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Mexico

María Elena Sánchez kneels during a Mass to commemorate the 11th anniversary of the death of Jtactic Samuel Ruíz, an emeritus bishop who advocated for Indigenous rights, in the central plaza of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Mexico. More than 3,000 pilgrims gathered and made offerings at the Mayan altar, which incorporated aspects of Indigenous religion and Catholicism.

Photo by Adriana Alcázar González

Kodikamam, Jaffna, Sri Lanka

Revelers carry a statue of Lord Murugan during Skanda Sashti, a Hindu festival, outside a temple in Kodikamam, Jaffna, Sri Lanka. On the sixth day of the festival, devotees celebrate the deity’s victory over evil.

Photo by Vijayatharsiny Thinesh

Namobuddha, Kavrepalanchok, Nepal

Mahendra Lama adorns a Buddhist stupa with flower symbols using a natural dye made from marigolds in Namobuddha, Kavrepalanchok, Nepal.

Photo by Shilu Manandhar

Bhaktapur, Nepal

Krishna Shyam Prajapati makes clay lamps for the Tihar festival in Bhaktapur, Nepal. During the five-day Hindu festival, people decorate their homes, shops and offices, and light the lamps to welcome Laxmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity.

Photo by Shilu Manandhar

Kirumba, DRC

Richard Kambale Nzike, center, plays trumpet while leading his band at a Seventh-day Adventist church in Kikimba, Kirumba, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Photo by Merveille Kavira Luneghe

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.

Photo by Vijayatharsiny Thinesh

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.

Photo by Patricia Zavala Gutiérrez

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.

Photo by Vijayatharsiny Thinesh

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.

Photo by Marissa Revilla

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.

Photo by Shilu Manandhar

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.

Photo by Anne Myriam Bolivar

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.

Photo by Shilu Manandhar

Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

Rafael Sánchez strolls by the Guadalajara Cathedral in historic downtown Guadalajara, Mexico.

Photo by Patricia Zavala Gutiérrez

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.

Photo by Shilu Manandhar

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.

Photo by Adriana Alcázar González

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.

Photo by Prudence Phiri

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.

Photo by Khorloo Khukhnokhoi

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.

Photo by Shilu Manandhar

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Sainshand, Dornogovi province, Mongolia

Bulgan. Umnugovi province, Mongolia

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Jaffna, Sri Lanka

Bulgan. Umnugovi province, Mongolia

Mannar, Sri Lanka

San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Mexico

Kodikamam, Jaffna, Sri Lanka

Namobuddha, Kavrepalanchok, Nepal

Bhaktapur, Nepal

Kirumba, DRC

Jaffna, Sri Lanka

Puebla, Mexico

Jaffna, Sri Lanka

San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Mexico

Boudha, Nepal

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Kathmandu, Nepal

Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

Kathmandu, Nepal

San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Mexico

Lusaka, Zambia

Orkhon Province, Mongolia

Kathmandu, Nepal