“We asked religious scholars and they said that if we’re out on a mission like this, there is no problem with not fasting on the condition that when you return, you fast the days you lost, because fasting like prayer is obligatory," says Abu Rmeileh, the first Palestinian to qualify for the Olympics.

“When you are reciting the Quran you feel like you are talking to Allah,” says Quran reciter Sheikh Mohammad Alraee. During Ramadan he has been chanting the Quran from memory at the Islamic Center of Northern Virginia.

"New Haggadahs will be written until there are no more Jews to write them. Or until our destiny has been fulfilled, and there is no more need to say, 'Next year in Jerusalem.'"

"This haggadah is trying to draw in as many people as possible to participate in the service," says artist Mark Podwal, who describes his illustrations for the text of a contemporary haggadah called "Sharing the Journey.". "For me," says Podwal, "my art is prayer."

"For symbols related to spring...I have flowers growing out of a menorah. I have the fruits of Israel. I have two pomegranates with Torah shields...so that each pomegranate is a mini-Torah."

Read an excerpt from "In the Company of Christ: A Pilgrimage through Holy Week" by Benedicta Ward. She is a historian of Christian spirituality at the University of Oxford.

In the Orthodox Christian tradition fasting is not about deprivation, says Catherine Mandell, author of "When You Fast: Recipes for Lenten Seasons."

Watch an audio slideshow of students at Georgetown University celebrating the Hindu festival of colors.

You receive ashes on your forehead “to remember that life is short…you come from dust and will return to dust,” says Julie Bringman, director of Sunday night ministries at Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, DC.

The elite St. Olaf choir is considered a pioneer in America’s a capella choral tradition. And for one hundred years, this small Lutheran college in Minnesota has done a Christmas concert that has become known—and loved—around the world.