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Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters
Heads bowed and hands raised for National Day of Prayer
Matt Rourke / AP
Sally Thomas takes part in a National Day of Prayer event on Independence Mall in Philadelphia.
Dave Martin / AP
Stanhope Elmore High School Junior ROTC Cadet Mike Snyder bows his head in prayer during National Prayer Day ceremonies at the Dexter Avenue United Methodist Church in Montgomery, Ala.
Charlie Neibergall / AP
Patty Russo, of Melbourne, Iowa, and her husband Joe, left, pray during a National Day of Prayer gathering in the rotunda at the Iowa Statehouse on Thursday. Congress established the day of prayer in 1952 and in 1988 declared that it would be held every year on the first Thursday in May.
Eric Gay / AP
Kelly Boorse, left, and Francisca, right, join others during a National Day of Prayer event, Thursday at City Hall in San Antonio. Congress established the day of prayer in 1952 and in 1988 declared that it would be held every year on the first Thursday in May.
Barbara Gauntt / The Clarion-Ledger via AP
Members of the Pearl, Miss. Fire Department, from left, Pvt. Jeremy Rast, Lt. Ronnie Decell and Capt. Alvin Morris participate in a National Day of Prayer observance by the flagpole at Miskelly Furniture in Pearl, Miss. on Thursday, May 3. A brisk wind kept the flag flying strong and at half-mast for Pearl Police Investigator Mike Walter killed Tuesday, May 1 in the line of duty.
See more images of religious activity in PhotoBlog.
Kimimasa Mayama / EPA
Businesswomen and businessmen pray for success in business at Kandamyojin shrine in Tokyo, Japan, on Jan. 04, 2012, to start the first business day of the New Year.
Praying for business success at the start of a new year
See the other things people do for good luck in the New Year in our slideshow: New Year's traditions around the world.
French ban on praying in the streets goes into effect today
Thibault Camus / AP
A French Muslim man looks through a window as he attends Friday prayers at a former fire station converted into a prayer hall, on Friday in Paris.
Thibault Camus / AP
French Muslims attend Friday prayers at a former fire station converted into a prayer hall, on Friday in Paris.
Valery Hache / AFP - Getty Images
Muslims people pray in a street of the French southern city of Nice on Sept. 16.
Valery Hache / AFP - Getty Images
Muslim people pray in the street of the French southern city of Nice on Sept. 16 during Friday prayers. A ban on praying in French streets went into effect today, with thousands of the nation's Muslim faithful being moved to temporary alternative spaces for their day of prayer. From Paris to Marseille, midday prayers will be led from disused barracks or other temporary buildings, after the question of Islam's visibility became a political issue under President Nicolas Sarkozy.
According to AP:
For years, Muslims by the hundreds, dodging foot and vehicle traffic, have unfurled rugs on northern Paris sidewalks and put their foreheads to the ground outside two mosques for Friday prayers — for the simple reason that there's not enough space inside.
Now the interior minister — who's also one of President Nicolas
Sarkozy's top advisers — has devised a stopgap solution: On Friday, a unused former fire station nearby will be outfitted to host two large prayer halls.The move tackles one of France's thorniest social dilemmas in recent years: How to integrate a large and expanding Muslim population that often feels alienated in a proudly secular country with deep Roman Catholic roots.
Looks like they might need to add some prayer space in Nice as well, as today Muslims were still praying in the streets there.
More from BBC on the ban going into effect.
Full story on the coverted fire stations.
Zohra Bensemra / Reuters
Libyans attend an Eid al-Fitr prayer in Tripoli on Wednesday, Aug. 31.
Libyans delighted at leader's downfall celebrate the end of Ramadan feast
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Pavel Rahman / AP
Muslim devotees offer prayers on a boat during the World Islamic Congregation on the banks of the River Turag in Tongi, on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Jan. 28. The three-day congregation began Friday.
Prayer along the banks of the Turag River in Bangladesh
Andrew Biraj / Reuters
A devotee takes part in Friday prayers during Bishwa Ijtema in Dhaka, Jan. 21.
Abir Abdullah / EPA
Thousands of Muslims offer Friday prayers as they attend one of the largest congregations of the Muslims on the bank of Turag in Tongi, Bangladesh, Jan. 21.
Afghans observe Ashoura: Men mourn, pray, flagellate
Ahmad Masood / Reuters
An Afghan Shiite Muslim man prays during a Muharram procession to mark Ashoura in Kabul Dec. 13, 2010.
Ahmad Masood / Reuters
Afghan Shiite Muslim men flagellate themselves during a Muharram procession in Kabul Dec. 13, 2010.
Shah Marai / AFP - Getty Images
Afghan Shiite devotees beat themselves with chains and blades during a Muslim ritual as part of Ashoura celebrations at a mosque in Kabul on Dec. 13.
From Getty: Ashoura is a period of mourning in remembrance of the seventh century martyrdom of Prophet Mohammad's grandson Imam Hussein who was killed in a battle in Karbala in Iraq, in 680 AD.
Kevin Frayer / AP
Indian Muslims pray at the Jama Masjid mosque, one of India's largest, during morning prayers on Eid al-Adha in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Nov. 17.
Menahem Kahana / AFP - Getty Images
An Ultra-orthodox Jewish man holds chickens during the Kaparot ceremony in the Mea Shearim Ultra Orthodox neighborhood of Jerusalem on Sept. 13, 2010. The ritual is supposed to transfer the sins of the past year to the chicken. It is performed before the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, the most important day in the Jewish calendar.
Kaparot: an ancient and mystical custom
The orthodox Jewish ceremony involves taking a white chicken and waving it over a person's head while a prayer is recited, "This is my exchange, this is my substitute, this is my atonement. This chicken will go to its death while I will enter and proceed to a good long life and peace." The chicken is then slaughtered, and it is given to the poor.
Most Jews today perform the Kaparot by waving money that's been wrapped in a white cloth over their head, reciting the prayer and then donating the money to charity.