Rites Around the World

Easter is a particularly important time of year for Sorbs, a Slavic minority in eastern Germany, and the period includes the tradition of painting Easter eggs that decorated with visual elements intended to ward off evil. Many Sorbs still speak Sorbian, a language closely related to Polish and Czech.

Catholic zealots in the Philippines re-enacted the last hours of Jesus Christ on Good Friday, whipping their backs and nailing themselves to crosses in a grisly Easter ritual that persists despite Church disapproval.

More than 50 people, young and old, celebrated Easter by crossing the tidal causeway during the annual Christian pilgrimage. Every year people of all ages, from all over the world and from all realms of Christian life walk together at Easter to Holy Island.

Catholics make up approximately 3 percent of the population of the predominantly Muslim country.

Songkran, the most celebrated festival of the year, marks the start of Thailand's traditional New Year.

Hindu devotees subject themselves to painful rituals during the religious procession to demonstrate their faith and as a penance to the deity at a temple dedicated to the goddess Shitla.

In an isolated region of the Caucasus a Georgian monk is spending his days in prayer and silence atop a 40-metre pillar of limestone. The Katskhi Pillar was used by stylites (Christian ascetics who lived atop pillars and eschewed worldly temptation) until the 15th century when the practice was stopped following the Ottoman invasion of Georgia. For centuries the 130 foot high pillar lay abandoned and locals could only look up at the mysterious ruins at its summit. However, after first being ascended in 1944, the pillar has been home to Maxime Qavtaradze, last of the stylites, since 1993. Since then Maxime, who has previously spent time in prison, and the Christian community in the area have constructed a ladder to the top, rebuilt the church, and built a cottage where Maxime spends his days praying, reading, and "preparing to meet god".