Celebrations of light, redemption, rebirth and honoring of the gods and goddesses. In 2014, people from faith traditions around the world gathered for religious festivals and holidays, lifting up the spirit of the divine in many different ways.
These photographs capture moments from a broad array of religious celebrations, each of them moving in their own ways. Here is a look back on some of the most stunning photographs captured at religious celebrations in 2014, remembering that with the New Year comes a fresh opportunity to bring all traditions alive once again.
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BIJU BORO/ AFP /Getty Images
Indian revellers cover each other with coloured powder and dance while taking part in Holi festival celebrations in Guwahati on March 17, 2014. Holi, the Festival of Colours, is a popular Hindu spring festival observed in India and Nepal at the end of winter season on the last full moon day of the lunar month.
AFP / Getty Images
This picture taken on February 14, 2014 shows Chinese villagers perform a dragon dance to celebrate the lantern festival in Yongchuan, Chongqing municipality.
Gali Gibbon / 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's old city on April 19, 2014 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 symbolises the resurrection of Jesus.
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Arun Sharma / Hindustan Times / Getty Images
Indian Muslims leave after offering prayers on the occasion of Eid-ul-fitr at Jama Masjid on July 29, 2014 in New Delhi, India. The festival of Eid was celebrated with traditional fervour across the country as Muslims offered prayers at mosques and exchanged greetings and sweets.
Ulet Ifansasti / Getty Images
Indonesian muslims perform Eid Al-Fitr prayer on 'sea of sands' at Parangkusumo beach on July 28, 2014 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Muni Uz Zaman / AFP / Getty Images
A Bangladeshi youth dressed as the Hindu god Lord Krishna takes part in a procession during celebrations for the Janmashtami festival in Dhaka on August 17, 2014. The Hindu festival of Janmashtami which falls on August 17 in 2014 marks the birth of the Hindu god Lord Krishna.
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Sanjeef Sayal / AP
A Sikh father helps his son to light a lamp, near the illuminated Golden Temple, the Sikhs holiest shrine, on the festival of Baisakhi in Amritsar, India, Monday, April 14, 2014. Baisakhi, which marks the Sikhs New Year day is also a harvest festival.
Indranil Mukherjee / AFP / Getty Images
Indian Hindu devotees gesture before attempting to form a human pyramid in a bid to reach and break a dahi-handi (curd-pot) suspended in air during celebrations for the Janmashtami festival, which marks the birth of Hindu god Lord Krishna, in Mumbai on August 18, 2014. Participants receive prize money by constructing a human pyramid tall enough to enable the topmost person to reach the pot and claim the contents after breaking it.
Ulet Ifansasti / Getty Images
Buddhist monks release a lantern into the air at Borobudur temple during celebrations for Vesak Day on May 15, 2014 in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. Vesak is observed during the full moon in May or June with the ceremony centered around three Buddhist temples, pilgrims walk from Mendut to Pawon, ending at Borobudur. The holy day celebrates the birth, the enlightenment to nirvana, and the passing of Gautama Buddha's, the founder of Buddhism.
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Jack Guez / AFP / Getty Images
Ultra-Orthodox Jews pray along the Ayarkon River in the city of Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv during the ritual of "Tashlich" on October 2, 2014. Tashlich is a ritual during which believers cast their sins into the water and the fish, and it is performed one day before the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur.
Geoff Caddick / AFP / Getty Images
A reveler called Mad Alan (real name) celebrates as the sun rises at the prehistoric monument Stonehenge, near Amesbury in Southern England, on June 21, 2014 marking the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. The festival, which dates back thousands of years, celebrates the longest day of the year when the sun is at its maximum elevation. Modern druids and people gather at the landmark Stonehenge every year to see the sun rise on the first morning of summer.
Oscar Siagian / Getty Images
Children carry torches during a procession to celebrate the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan on June 27, 2014 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, is observed by Muslims with fasting, prayers and recitation of the Quran.
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Roberto Schmidt / AFP / Getty Images
Indian widows wave sparklers as they participate in a celebration for the Hindu festival Diwali on the banks of the Yamuna river in the northern city of Vrindavan on October 21, 2014.
Afghan Shiite Muslim devotees flagellate themselves during a morning procession marking the day of Ashura in Kabul, Afghanistan on November 3, 2014. Shiite Muslims are observing the Ashura, the tenth day of the first Islamic month of Muharram, to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, in the Iraqi city of Karbala in the seventh century.
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