AP PHOTOS: Across faiths and borders, the faces of prayer
An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man of the Kiryat Sanz Hasidic sect prays on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea as they participate in a Tashlich ceremony, in Netanya, Israel, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. Tashlich, which means “to cast away” in Hebrew, is the practice in which Jews go to a large flowing body of water and symbolically “throw away” their sins by throwing a piece of bread, or similar food, into the water before the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
A burqa-clad Afghan woman and two children beg for alms during Friday prayers in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Sept. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A girl wearing a face mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic kneels in prayer before candles at Our Lady of Cobre Church as faithful mark the feast day of Cuba’s patron saint, the Virgin of Charity of Cobre, in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021. For the second year in a row, the annual procession with the statue of the Virgin of Charity of Cobre was canceled due to the pandemic. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Exile Tibetans throw barley flour in the air as they chant prayers during an early morning prayer gathering in Dharmsala, India, Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)
A migrant from Haiti prays with a bible on her head during a Mass at an improvised refugee shelter in Ciudad Acuña, Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. The options remaining for thousands of Haitian migrants straddling the Mexico-Texas border are narrowing as the United States government ramps up to an expected six expulsion flights to Haiti, and Mexico began busing some away from the border. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Protesters set fire to car tires at one of the blockades near Cetinje, Montenegro, Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021. Riot police used tear gas on protesters who fired gunshots in the air and hurled bottles and stones before a planned inauguration of the new head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the country. The ceremony scheduled in Cetinje, a former capital of the small Balkan nation, has angered opponents of the Serbian church in Montenegro, which declared independence from neighboring Serbia in 2006. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
Muslim worshippers pray during Friday prayers at a gas station to protest severe fuel shortages that Lebanon has been witnessing for weeks, in the coastal town of Jiyeh, south of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. Lebanon is mired in a devastating economic and financial crisis, the worst in its modern history. A result of this has been crippling power cuts and severe shortages in gasoline and diesel that have been blamed on smuggling, hoarding and the cash-strapped government’s inability to secure deliveries of oil products. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish women adorn 30-day-old Yossef Tabersky, the great grandchild of the chief rabbi of the Lelov Hassidic dynasty, during the “Pidyon Haben” ceremony in Beit Shemesh, Israel, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021. The Pidyon Haben, or redemption of the firstborn son, is a Jewish ceremony hearkening back to the biblical exodus from Egypt. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A woman worships a cow, considered holy by Hindus, on Teej festival at the Sangam, the confluence of rivers Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati, in Prayagraj, India, Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021. During this festival, women observe a day-long fast for a longevity of their husbands while some unmarried women observe a fast for a good husband. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
Workers install thin panels of marble on the dome of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine, which is the only house of worship on ground zero, on Friday, Sept. 2, 2021, in New York. Through an innovative process, interior lights are being designed to illuminate the thin panels of marble mined from the same Pentelic vein in Greece that sourced the Parthenon, the ancient temple in Athens. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
A Taliban fighter lays his AK-47 rifle down during Friday prayers at a Mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
Pallbearers carry the coffin of actor Jean-Paul Belmondo at the Saint Germain des Près church, Friday, Sept. 10, 2021 in Paris. The star of the iconic French New Wave film “Breathless” died Monday aged 88. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Israelis play backgammon on a car-free road during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in Ramat Gan, Israel, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021. Israelis are marking Yom Kippur, or ‘Day of Atonement,’ which is the holiest of Jewish holidays when observant Jews atone for the sins of the past year and the Israeli nation comes to almost a complete standstill. Many residents take bicycles onto the streets as no traffic is permitted on the roads. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Migrants, who are part of a caravan heading north, stop to rest at the church San Francisco de Asis in Huixtla, Chiapas state, Mexico, Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Members of the Chicago Fire Department bow their heads in prayer during the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks at the Richard J. Daley Plaza in the Loop in Chicago, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
People celebrate the festival of Maskel in Ethiopia on Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021, to commemorate the unearthing of the True Holy Cross of Christ. Celebrations begin with the building of the Damera bonfire in Maskel Square in Addis Ababa – a conical pyre of poles surrounded by bundles of branches and torches, decorated with green grass and Abyssinian daisies symbolizing the New Year. (AP Photo)
The church of Kronberg stands above the fog that drifts by the buildings of the banking district in Frankfurt, Germany, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man of the Kiryat Sanz Hasidic sect prays on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea as they participate in a Tashlich ceremony, in Netanya, Israel, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. Tashlich, which means “to cast away” in Hebrew, is the practice in which Jews go to a large flowing body of water and symbolically “throw away” their sins by throwing a piece of bread, or similar food, into the water before the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man of the Kiryat Sanz Hasidic sect prays on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea as they participate in a Tashlich ceremony, in Netanya, Israel, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. Tashlich, which means “to cast away” in Hebrew, is the practice in which Jews go to a large flowing body of water and symbolically “throw away” their sins by throwing a piece of bread, or similar food, into the water before the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
A burqa-clad Afghan woman and two children beg for alms during Friday prayers in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Sept. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A burqa-clad Afghan woman and two children beg for alms during Friday prayers in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Sept. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A girl wearing a face mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic kneels in prayer before candles at Our Lady of Cobre Church as faithful mark the feast day of Cuba’s patron saint, the Virgin of Charity of Cobre, in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021. For the second year in a row, the annual procession with the statue of the Virgin of Charity of Cobre was canceled due to the pandemic. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A girl wearing a face mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic kneels in prayer before candles at Our Lady of Cobre Church as faithful mark the feast day of Cuba’s patron saint, the Virgin of Charity of Cobre, in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021. For the second year in a row, the annual procession with the statue of the Virgin of Charity of Cobre was canceled due to the pandemic. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Exile Tibetans throw barley flour in the air as they chant prayers during an early morning prayer gathering in Dharmsala, India, Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)
Exile Tibetans throw barley flour in the air as they chant prayers during an early morning prayer gathering in Dharmsala, India, Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)
A migrant from Haiti prays with a bible on her head during a Mass at an improvised refugee shelter in Ciudad Acuña, Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. The options remaining for thousands of Haitian migrants straddling the Mexico-Texas border are narrowing as the United States government ramps up to an expected six expulsion flights to Haiti, and Mexico began busing some away from the border. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
A migrant from Haiti prays with a bible on her head during a Mass at an improvised refugee shelter in Ciudad Acuña, Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. The options remaining for thousands of Haitian migrants straddling the Mexico-Texas border are narrowing as the United States government ramps up to an expected six expulsion flights to Haiti, and Mexico began busing some away from the border. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Protesters set fire to car tires at one of the blockades near Cetinje, Montenegro, Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021. Riot police used tear gas on protesters who fired gunshots in the air and hurled bottles and stones before a planned inauguration of the new head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the country. The ceremony scheduled in Cetinje, a former capital of the small Balkan nation, has angered opponents of the Serbian church in Montenegro, which declared independence from neighboring Serbia in 2006. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
Protesters set fire to car tires at one of the blockades near Cetinje, Montenegro, Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021. Riot police used tear gas on protesters who fired gunshots in the air and hurled bottles and stones before a planned inauguration of the new head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the country. The ceremony scheduled in Cetinje, a former capital of the small Balkan nation, has angered opponents of the Serbian church in Montenegro, which declared independence from neighboring Serbia in 2006. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
Muslim worshippers pray during Friday prayers at a gas station to protest severe fuel shortages that Lebanon has been witnessing for weeks, in the coastal town of Jiyeh, south of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. Lebanon is mired in a devastating economic and financial crisis, the worst in its modern history. A result of this has been crippling power cuts and severe shortages in gasoline and diesel that have been blamed on smuggling, hoarding and the cash-strapped government’s inability to secure deliveries of oil products. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Muslim worshippers pray during Friday prayers at a gas station to protest severe fuel shortages that Lebanon has been witnessing for weeks, in the coastal town of Jiyeh, south of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. Lebanon is mired in a devastating economic and financial crisis, the worst in its modern history. A result of this has been crippling power cuts and severe shortages in gasoline and diesel that have been blamed on smuggling, hoarding and the cash-strapped government’s inability to secure deliveries of oil products. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish women adorn 30-day-old Yossef Tabersky, the great grandchild of the chief rabbi of the Lelov Hassidic dynasty, during the “Pidyon Haben” ceremony in Beit Shemesh, Israel, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021. The Pidyon Haben, or redemption of the firstborn son, is a Jewish ceremony hearkening back to the biblical exodus from Egypt. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish women adorn 30-day-old Yossef Tabersky, the great grandchild of the chief rabbi of the Lelov Hassidic dynasty, during the “Pidyon Haben” ceremony in Beit Shemesh, Israel, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021. The Pidyon Haben, or redemption of the firstborn son, is a Jewish ceremony hearkening back to the biblical exodus from Egypt. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A woman worships a cow, considered holy by Hindus, on Teej festival at the Sangam, the confluence of rivers Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati, in Prayagraj, India, Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021. During this festival, women observe a day-long fast for a longevity of their husbands while some unmarried women observe a fast for a good husband. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
A woman worships a cow, considered holy by Hindus, on Teej festival at the Sangam, the confluence of rivers Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati, in Prayagraj, India, Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021. During this festival, women observe a day-long fast for a longevity of their husbands while some unmarried women observe a fast for a good husband. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
Workers install thin panels of marble on the dome of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine, which is the only house of worship on ground zero, on Friday, Sept. 2, 2021, in New York. Through an innovative process, interior lights are being designed to illuminate the thin panels of marble mined from the same Pentelic vein in Greece that sourced the Parthenon, the ancient temple in Athens. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
Workers install thin panels of marble on the dome of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine, which is the only house of worship on ground zero, on Friday, Sept. 2, 2021, in New York. Through an innovative process, interior lights are being designed to illuminate the thin panels of marble mined from the same Pentelic vein in Greece that sourced the Parthenon, the ancient temple in Athens. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)
A Taliban fighter lays his AK-47 rifle down during Friday prayers at a Mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
A Taliban fighter lays his AK-47 rifle down during Friday prayers at a Mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
Pallbearers carry the coffin of actor Jean-Paul Belmondo at the Saint Germain des Près church, Friday, Sept. 10, 2021 in Paris. The star of the iconic French New Wave film “Breathless” died Monday aged 88. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Pallbearers carry the coffin of actor Jean-Paul Belmondo at the Saint Germain des Près church, Friday, Sept. 10, 2021 in Paris. The star of the iconic French New Wave film “Breathless” died Monday aged 88. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Israelis play backgammon on a car-free road during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in Ramat Gan, Israel, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021. Israelis are marking Yom Kippur, or ‘Day of Atonement,’ which is the holiest of Jewish holidays when observant Jews atone for the sins of the past year and the Israeli nation comes to almost a complete standstill. Many residents take bicycles onto the streets as no traffic is permitted on the roads. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Israelis play backgammon on a car-free road during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in Ramat Gan, Israel, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021. Israelis are marking Yom Kippur, or ‘Day of Atonement,’ which is the holiest of Jewish holidays when observant Jews atone for the sins of the past year and the Israeli nation comes to almost a complete standstill. Many residents take bicycles onto the streets as no traffic is permitted on the roads. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Migrants, who are part of a caravan heading north, stop to rest at the church San Francisco de Asis in Huixtla, Chiapas state, Mexico, Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Migrants, who are part of a caravan heading north, stop to rest at the church San Francisco de Asis in Huixtla, Chiapas state, Mexico, Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
Members of the Chicago Fire Department bow their heads in prayer during the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks at the Richard J. Daley Plaza in the Loop in Chicago, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Members of the Chicago Fire Department bow their heads in prayer during the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks at the Richard J. Daley Plaza in the Loop in Chicago, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
People celebrate the festival of Maskel in Ethiopia on Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021, to commemorate the unearthing of the True Holy Cross of Christ. Celebrations begin with the building of the Damera bonfire in Maskel Square in Addis Ababa – a conical pyre of poles surrounded by bundles of branches and torches, decorated with green grass and Abyssinian daisies symbolizing the New Year. (AP Photo)
People celebrate the festival of Maskel in Ethiopia on Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021, to commemorate the unearthing of the True Holy Cross of Christ. Celebrations begin with the building of the Damera bonfire in Maskel Square in Addis Ababa – a conical pyre of poles surrounded by bundles of branches and torches, decorated with green grass and Abyssinian daisies symbolizing the New Year. (AP Photo)
The church of Kronberg stands above the fog that drifts by the buildings of the banking district in Frankfurt, Germany, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
The church of Kronberg stands above the fog that drifts by the buildings of the banking district in Frankfurt, Germany, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Blue sky and wispy clouds framed the outline of an ultra-Orthodox man of the Kiryat Sanz Hasidic sect on a hill in Israel during a Tashlich ceremony, in which Jews symbolically cast off their sins into a body of water, ahead of the Yom Kippur holiday.
Tibetan exiles in India threw fistfuls of barley flour into the air at an early morning gathering, chanting through face masks worn to guard against the coronavirus.
Eyes closed in rapture, a Haitian migrant pressed a paperback bible to the crown of her head during a Mass at an improvised shelter in the Mexico-U.S. border region where thousands of her compatriots recently arrived hoping to cross.
Images captured by Associated Press photographers around the world last month showed how prayer has diverse manifestations across faith traditions and human-drawn frontiers.
In Cuba it took the face of a young girl kneeling in church before flickering candles for the country’s patron, the Virgin of Charity of Cobre, whose customary feast day procession was scrapped for a second year due to the pandemic.
In Lebanon it was Muslim men standing shoulder-to-shoulder with heads bowed over prayer rugs at a gas station, where they demonstrated against severe fuel shortages amid a crippling economic crisis.
And in India, a woman clasped her hands to her face and bent in veneration before a cow, considered holy by Hindus, during the Teej festival marked by daylong fasting by women asking to find a good husband or for the longevity of an existing one.
Prayer was a central part of many observances of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the United States, such as in Chicago, where uniformed firefighters standing in formation bowed their heads in solemn ceremony.
And at ground zero in New York, workers installed thin panels of marble on the dome of a rebuilt Greek Orthodox church, the only house of worship destroyed in the attacks, in preparation for a lighting and memorial service held days later, on the eve of the anniversary.
These and more are among the AP’s top faith-related images from the month.
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