Global Press Journal Connections: The World in Photos

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.

Photo by Uranchimeg Tsogkhuu

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.

Photo by Aline Suárez del Real

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.

Photo by Adriana Alcázar González

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.

Photo by Marissa Revilla

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.

Photo by Vijayatharsiny Thinesh

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.

Photo by Mar García

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.

Photo by Mayela Sánchez

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.

Photo by Gamuchirai Masiyiwa

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.

Photo by Prudence Phiri

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.

Photo by Vijayatharsiny Thinesh

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.

Photo by Raihana Maqbool

Kathmandu, Nepal

Anish Shakya collects offerings in a basket during a festival celebrating Rato Machindranath, a deity believed to have power over rain, in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Photo by Yam Kumari Kandel

Kathmandu, Nepal

Amir Buddhacharya, a Buddhist priest, hands devotees blessed flowers while they pray to Buddha during a Buddha Jayanti celebration in Kathmandu, Nepal. Buddhists consider Buddha Jayanti an auspicious day, since it marks the birth of Buddha. To celebrate, devotees often visit shrines, make offerings of flowers and money and light butter lamps.

Photo by Shilu Manandhar

Kathmandu, Nepal

Guman Singh makes bamboo frames with jute ropes on the reconstruction site of Kasthamandap Temple in Kathmandu Durbar Square, Nepal. Kasthamandap Temple was made of wood and was completely destroyed by the April 2015 earthquake. Reconstruction work began in May 2018.

Photo by Shilu Manandhar

Mexico City, Mexico

Antonio Álvarez, 16, portrays Jesus of Nazareth in a play performed by the group Víacrucis Santiago Iztacalco at Kiosco San Matías in Mexico City’s Iztacalco district. For the past 10 years, the group has put on almost 40 performances during Holy Week in public plazas all over the district. “It takes a lot of sacrifice, but it’s very nice,” Álvarez says of his role. “I wanted the role but didn’t think they’d give it to me. I was very scared. I even cried when I got it.”

Photo by Mar García

Lusaka, Zambia

Michael Mvunga (left) plays the role of Jesus during the stage where Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem in “The Way of the Cross,” a Catholic devotion performed on Good Friday at St. Ignatius Parish in Lusaka, Zambia. “The Way of the Cross” demonstrates Jesus Christ’s last day on Earth. Individuals move from station to station to recite specific prayers and meditate on Christ's last day.

Photo by Prudence Phiri

San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Mexico

Antonio González López and other residents of San Cristóbal de las Casas, a city in Chiapas, Mexico, hold a celebration dedicated to protecting the wetlands. González, a traditional Mayan healer, asked both forces of nature and figures venerated by Catholics, including the Virgin Mary, to care for local wetlands and the city’s water supply.

Photo by Adriana Alcázar González

Jaffna, Sri Lanka

At the Arasady Pillayar Temple in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, Hindus worship by carrying “kavadi,” a type of physical burden that is often a decorated wood item. Starting at the temple, the procession danced through the village of Kondavil. The kavadi may also be a body piercing.

Photo by Vijayatharsiny Thinesh

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Rudline Lundi performs mime during a Mass at her church in the Thor le Volant neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She and other dancers acted out the words spoken during the Mass. “It’s my way of thanking God for his grace toward me,” says Lundi.

Photo by Anne Myriam Bolivar

Modara, Sri Lanka

Across the street from the Maha Kali Amman Kovil, a Hindu temple in Modara, a municipal ward in Colombo 15, Sri Lanka, Saraswathi, 65, reads the palm of Mindi Weerasinghe. Weerasinghe says she was amazed at how accurate Saraswathi was in telling her about her past and her struggles.

Photo by Nirasha Piyawadani

Jaffna, Sri Lanka

Visakan Perinpanathan, 26, and his father sculpt statues of Hindu gods at their workshop in Jaffna, a city in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province. Perinpanathan has pursued his family’s craft for eight years.

Photo by Poongulaly Balagobalan

Lusaka, Zambia

Roman Catholic churchgoers pray before a statue of the Virgin Mary at the Marian Shrine in Lusaka, Zambia.

Photo by Prudence Phiri

Kathmandu, Nepal

Buddhist devotees practice kora, the tradition of walking around a stupa, or shrine, while chanting prayers and using prayer beads, at the Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal. The Buddhists who come to the stupa usually participate in kora in the morning or evening.

Photo by Shilu Manandhar

Kathmandu, Nepal

Gopinath Dhungana puts tika on the forehead of Manisha Waiba during Janai Purnima, a Hindu festival in Bagbazar, a neighborhood of Kathmandu, Nepal. Tika, made from red powder mixed with water and rice, is applied during puja, or Hindu worship. During Janai Purnima, worshippers also receive janai, a sacred thread worn around the wrist.

Photo by Shilu Manandhar

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Baruun Saikhan Mountains, Mongolia

Tecámac, Mexico

San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Mexico

Zinacantán, Chiapas, Mexico

Jaffna, Sri Lanka

Mexico City, Mexico

Coyoacán, Mexico City, Mexico

Harare, Zimbabwe

Lusaka, Zambia

Jaffna, Sri Lanka

Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir

Kathmandu, Nepal

Kathmandu, Nepal

Kathmandu, Nepal

Mexico City, Mexico

Lusaka, Zambia

San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Mexico

Jaffna, Sri Lanka

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Modara, Sri Lanka

Jaffna, Sri Lanka

Lusaka, Zambia

Kathmandu, Nepal

Kathmandu, Nepal