Photos of the Week: Bali Pandanus War; India elections

By Kit Doyle · June 7, 2024
 (RNS) — Each week RNS presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo gallery includes traditional rituals in Bali, elections in India and more. Balinese men fight each other using tied, thorny pandanus plants and shields during a ritual called 'Mekare-kare' pandanus war at Tenganan village in Bali, Indonesia on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. People of Tenganan village celebrate a month-long ceremony called 'Usabha Sambah' to honour and respect the God Indra, the Hindu god of war. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati) Balinese women in traditional dress react as they watch a ritual called 'Mekare-kare' pandanus war at Tenganan village in Bali, Indonesia on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. People of Tenganan village celebrate a month-long ceremony called 'Usabha Sambah' to honour and respect the god Indra, the Hindu god of war. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati) A Pakistani vendor makes a design on a camel to attract customers at a market set up for the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, in Karachi, Pakistan, Thursday, June 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan) Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic Jews bury the coffin of Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, Vice Chairman of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch—the educational arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement—and Director of the annual International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries, during his funeral at Montefiore Cemetery, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024, in the Queens borough of New York. Kotlarsky passed away on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki) Muslims line up to cast their votes in the seventh and final phase of national elections, in Varanasi, India, Saturday, June 1, 2024. Indians began voting Saturday in the last round of a six-week-long national election that is a referendum on Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decade in power. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh, file) Supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party dance at a party office in Guwahati, India, during counting of India’s national election on June 4, 2024. The heavily Hindu-influenced BJP remains in power, but experienced more losses than anticipated. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath) Devotees take part in the Corpus Christi procession in the small town of Bera de Bidasoa, northern Spain, Sunday, June 2, 2024. Corpus Christi, which falls on May 30 but is celebrated on the following Sunday, observes the tradition and belief of the Holy Eucharist, which for Christians represents the body and blood of Jesus Christ. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos) A woman touches the feet of Hindu holy man after performing rituals in front of a banyan tree to mark Vat Purnima festival, in Prayagraj, India, Thursday, June 06, 2024. Vat Purnima, also called Vat Savitri, is celebrated on a full moon day where married women pray for the longevity of their husbands. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh) A woman touches her forehead to the trunk of a banyan tree after tying a thread around it as part of the rituals to mark Vat Purnima festival, in Prayagraj, India, Thursday, June 06, 2024. Vat Purnima, also called Vat Savitri, is celebrated on a full moon day where married women pray for the longevity of their husbands. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh) Pope Francis meets with members of Christian workers associations in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Saturday, June 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) Archival Photos The first of about 10,000 Watusi tribesmen and women forced out of Rwanda arrive at a new agricultural community being established for them in the Mwezi highlands of Tanzania by the Lutheran World Federation in Dec. 1964. The grass shelter in the background is one of several used to house refugees until they complete construction of their own homes. (RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.) Three leaders of the South India United Church are on an extended tour of the United States in Dec. 1946. They are the Rev. Arthur John, from left, Mrs. Arputham William and Jared S. Savarirayan. Favorable progress is reported on the South India Union Scheme by which Anglican, Methodist and other denominational groups in South India would be merged with the United Church, providing Christians with a single group and eliminating separate British, Australian, American and German communions there. (RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.)
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