It is a painful rite of passage for girls in many African and Middle Eastern countries. But in Senegal there has been a remarkably successful campaign to change people's attitudes towards female circumcision in an effort to eliminate the practice altogether.

“There’s a yearning in them, and that all wants to be expressed in terms of the sacred and the holy and within the context of God’s presence,” says Rev. Ann Abernethy, a United Church of Christ pastor.

"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."

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.

"Pilgrimages are undertaken because people want to move beyond their normal, mundane life," says Virginia Raguin, a professor at the College of the Holy Cross. Raguin is also the curator of a traveling exhibit on pilgrimages in Buddhism, Christianity and Islam.

“It’s an expression of the love for our Torah, our teachings. It’s also a great way to begin the New Year,” says Rabbi Ravid Shnever, spiritual leader of Kehila Chadasha and the Am Kolel Jewish Renewal Center of Greater Washington.

“When Muslims want to respectfully dispose of a text of the Qur’an that is no longer usable, we will burn it,” says Imam Jihad Turk, director of religious affairs at the Islamic Center of Southern California.

We visit a Virginia mosque that feeds Muslims and non-Muslims alike at its daily iftar meal to break the Ramadan fast.