Holy Saturday around the world, Hindu goddess of smallpox, Royals’ Alex Gordon loses his head and more | April 19
Holy Saturday around the world, Hindu goddess of smallpox rituals, Royals’ Alex Gordon loses his head and a little more in today’s photo brief.
- Prain, an ethnic Kayan woman who came back home from Thailand to celebrate the Myanmar New Year, looks at herself in a mirror after washing in a lake at Panpet village, Demoso township Kayah state. Some ethnic Kayan women, also known as Padaung, begin wearing the bronze rings on their neck and legs from young. Usually they start wearing six to ten rings when they are five to ten-years-old and then they put one more ring every year. During the rule of the military regime in Myanmar, many Kayan women went to Thailand as migrant workers. Local businessmen built villages in Thailand in which some Kayan women wearing rings around their necks are main tourist attraction. (Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)
- Andre 3000 and Big Boi of Outkast perform during the first day of the 2014 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. (Karl Walter/Getty Images for Coachella)
- A firefighter walks near the remains of three beachfront homes which burned in Sea Isle City, N.J.. The houses were destroyed and numerous adjacent properties damaged, but there were no injuries reported, according to police on the scene. (Charles Mostoller/Reuters)
- Brad Scott, of Houma, La., surf fishes in Grand Isle, La. as the sun rises. The English company BP announced it is ending its “active cleanup” on the Louisiana coast from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers and spilling millions of gallons of oil Gulf of Mexico. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
- Women are doused with water as they lie on a road during a ritual to worship Sheetala Mata, the Hindu goddess of smallpox, during the Sheetala Puja in Kolkata. During the Puja, women fast for the whole day to pray for the betterment of their family and society. (Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)
- Women hold earthen pots with fire as they worship Sheetala Mata, the Hindu goddess of smallpox, during the Sheetala Puja in Kolkata. During the Puja, women fast for the whole day to pray for the betterment of their family and society. (Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)
- Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) activists shout slogans in Srinagar, India, during a rally against the ongoing general elections. Several separatist organizations have appealed to the people of Jammu and Kashmir to boycott Indian parliamentary elections. India’s 814-million-strong electorate is voting in the world’s biggest election which is set to sweep the Hindu nationalist opposition to power at a time of low growth, anger about corruption and warnings about religious unrest. (Rouf Bhat/AFP/Getty Images)
- Students from Danwon High School and other people attend a candlelight vigil for the missing passengers from the South Korean ferry “Sewol”, which sank in the sea off Jindo. Some relatives of the more than 200 children missing in the sunken South Korean ferry offered DNA swabs on Saturday to help identify the dead as the rescue turned into a mission to recover the vessel and the bodies of those on board. The Sewol, carrying 476 passengers and crew, capsized during a journey from the port of Incheon to the southern holiday island of Jeju. Thirty-two people are known to have died. (Park Jung-ho/Reuters/News1)
- A Huni Kui Indian smokes herbs during a ritual in the village of Novo Segredo along the Envira river of Brazil’s northwestern Acre state. Many indigenous groups, including the Huni Kui, Ashaninka, and Madija, live in villages in the Brazilian rainforest near the border with Peru. Over the past three years, the Ashaninka and Madija say that they have seen more and more incursions on their territory from tribes, defined by Survival International as groups who have no peaceful contact with mainstream society. The “Bravos,” or “Braves,” carry out raids on other villages, putting the communities along the Envira River on permanent alert. (Lunae Parracho/Reuters)
- A Christian Orthodox worshipper with a candle lit from the ‘Holy Fire’ as thousands gather in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s old city the eve of the Orthodox Easter. Believers hold that the fire is miraculously sent from heaven to ignite candles held by the Greek Orthodox patriarch in an annual rite dating back to the 4th century that symbolises the resurrection of Jesus. (Gali Tibbon/AFP/Getty Images)
- Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III leads the procession as thousands gather in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s old city during the “Holy Fire” ceremony on the eve of the Orthodox Easter. Believers hold that the fire is miraculously sent from heaven to ignite candles held by the Greek Orthodox patriarch in an annual rite dating back to the 4th century that symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus.(Gail Tibbon/AFP/Getty Images)
- Christian Orthodox worshippers hold up candles lit from the ‘Holy Fire’ as thousands gather in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on the eve of the Orthodox Easter. Believers hold that the fire is miraculously sent from heaven to ignite candles held by the Greek Orthodox patriarch in an annual rite dating back to the 4th century that symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus. (Gali Tibbon/AFP/Getty Images)
- Nuns attend the Easter Vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. Easter Vigil, also called the Paschal Vigil, is a service held in traditional Christian churches as the first official celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. (Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images)
- Pope Francis walks through St Peter’s Basilica during Easter Vigil in the Vatican City. Easter Vigil, also called the Paschal Vigil, is a service held in traditional Christian churches as the first official celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. (Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images)
- inside St. Peter’s Basilica during the Holy Saturday Easter vigil mass celebrated by Pope Francis in Vatican City, Vatican. The Pope will lead Easter Sunday Mass celebrating the resurrection of Jesus tomorrow in St. Peter’s Square. (Franco Origlia/Getty Images)
- A tradition on the Eve of Easter, a fire rages on from the banks of the river Elbe in Hamburg’s Blankenese district, northern Germany. (Bodo Marks/AFP/Getty Images)
- A re-enactment of the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) during Good Friday celebrations in one of the affected areas after a fire burned several neighborhoods in the hills in Valparaiso city, northwest of Santiago, Chile. Deadly forest fires in Valparaiso have killed at least 15 people, consumed 2,693 acres and burned 2,900 homes. There have been 12,500 casualties. Fed by high temperatures and strong winds, the flames moved from forest areas at the top of the city on Saturday night and destroyed large swaths of predominantly low-income, wooden houses. (Eliseo Fernandez/Reuters)
- A woman kisses a statue of Jesus Christ during a mass as part of Good Friday celebrations in Havana, Cuba. (Reuters)
- An actor portraying a Roman soldier puts a crown of thorns on the head of an actor portraying Jesus during “the Passion of Christ.” The play commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus as a part of Easter festivities in the north Bohemian city of Ceska Lipa, Czech Republic. (David W Cerny/Reuters)
- A beam of sunlight engulfs worshippers they take part in the Christian Orthodox Holy Fire ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City. (Finbarr O’Reilly/Reuters)
- Penitents take part in the Procesion de la Esperanza in Bilbao April 19, 2014. Hundreds of Easter processions take place around the clock in Spain during Holy Week, drawing thousands of visitors. (Vincent West/Reuters)
- People walk with lighted candles around the Church of the Nativity during an Orthodox Easter service in Russia’s Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. (lya Naymushin/Reuters)
- A Ukrainian woman paints a wooden egg on the eve of Easter ahead of midnight mass in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian government said it will not attack pro-Russian separatists over the Easter weekend as its U.S. ally threatened Moscow with new sanctions if it fails to persuade the militants to surrender. (Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)
- Steven Spinoza. 9, knocks a plastic Easter egg from a tree in front of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. The Catonsville church held its annual Easter Event and Hunt that is open to anyone. (Christopher T. Assaf/Baltimore Sun)
- A woman carries a basket of Easter goodies at the protest camp on Independence Square in Kiev. Ukraine and Russia agreed that protest sit-ins must end, pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine said they would not quit occupied public buildings and pro-Western activists in the capital insisted they would not dismantle their Maidan camp, which helped topple the Kremlin-backed president. (Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)
- A Ukrainian Orthodox worshipper visits a church before an Easter service in the eastern Ukrainian town of Slaviansk(Gleb Garanich/Reuters)
- Dmitriy Shkurba, Reisterstown, prays during the Holy Saturday Vesperal Divine Liturgy at Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church in Baltimore. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun)
- A Ukrainian Orthodox priest splashes holy water on believers before an Easter service in the eastern Ukrainian town of Slaviansk. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)
- Fans watch the University of Missouri Black & Gold Spring Game at Faurot Field in Columbia, Mo. (Dak Dillon/USA Today Sports)
- St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter (13) scores in the seventh inning as Washington Nationals catcher Sandy Leon (41) cannot hold onto the ball at Nationals Park. The Cardinals defeated the Nationals 4-3. Joy R. Absalon/USA Today Sports)
- A likeness of Kansas City Royals left fielder Alex Gordon sits on the grass at the end of batting practice before the the team’s game against the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. (John Sleezer/Kansas City Star/MCT)
- Vlad Duric escapes serious injury after falling off Golfing in in the home straight in Race 5, the Bert Bryant Handicap during Melbourne Racing at Caulfield Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia. Duric walked away with a minor leg injury. (Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images)
- Horses race during The £3 Million totescoop6 Today Handicap Hurdle Race at Haydock Racecourse on April 19, 2014 in Haydock, England. (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
- Red Bull Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany drives during the third practice session of the Chinese F1 Grand Prix at the Shanghai International circuit. (Aly Song/Reuters)
- Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis (19) chases a foul ball into the crowd during the sixth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. (Greg M. Cooper/USA Today Sports)
- Ethnic Hazara Afghan women weave a carpet at a makeshift workshop at their house in Khorasan Refugee Camp, on the outskirts of Peshawar. Carpet-making started at the camp in 1982, when refugees fled the war in Afghanistan to take refuge in Pakistan. The carpet weavers, who are employed by contractors, are paid between 3,000 Pakistani rupees ($31) to 10,000 rupees ($103) per square metre, depending on the quality of the craftsmanship. The carpets, which can each take up to 60 days to complete, are then exported to buyers from the West and the Gulf. (Fayaz Aziz/Reuters)
- A Muslim pilgrim holds his eye open as he performs inside the shrine of Muslim saint Shah-e-Alam during Urs, in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad April 19, 2014. Urs is an annual festival held for 10 days to mark the death anniversary of the Muslim saint in the city. (Amit Dave/Reuters)