"Just being in conversation with our loved ones is a way to get in touch with the sacred part of life and so with the right intention and the right attention I think we can really see how God encounters us in all aspects of our lives."

“Christianity is a corporate religion. It’s not something you do by yourself. The act of getting down and doing something only the lowest of slaves would do really defined what it means to love one another as he loved us.”

Maha Kumba Mela or Big Pitcher festival commemorates a story that describes the god Vishnu's fight with demons to gain possession of a golden pitcher containing the nectar of immortality. During the battle, some drops fell to the earth on the pilgrimage sites.

“The rabbis going back to Maimonides and earlier felt that the lights of the Hanukkah lamp were sacred,” and if you couldn’t afford a gold or silver lamp “you could use an egg shell, or a nut shell, or a potato carved out.”

"It is prescribed that you should put the lamp in your doorway," says Susan Braunstein, curator of the Jewish Museum of New York, "so that the people walking on the street will see the lights and know that we are celebrating the miracle."

"Not only are we pointing to these different saints and celebrating all of the good things during their lives, but we're hopefully encouraging one another to become the saints of this age," says Brother James Cuddy, who explains the celebration of All Hallow's Eve, or Halloween.

“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 David Shneyer, spiritual leader of Kehila Chadasha and the Am Kolel Jewish Renewal Center of Greater Washington.

This important Jewish festival celebrates “an indulging of the senses.”

“The richness of the melodies, the music—it leaves you with an indelible imprint” during the days leading up to Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, says Rabbi Joshua Maroof.

In advance of the Jewish High Holidays, “You pray the selichot, and you leave with the melodies on your lips and your mind throughout the whole day. The music stays in your heart.”

"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. "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."

"Just like oil gives light into a dark room, just like it brings warmth; for a Jew, it also brings warmth and light into his own personal life and into the world as a whole," says Rabbi Mendy Bukiet.

A Christmas pageant, says Calvin College professor of music and worship John Witvliet, is one of the best places in modern culture to witness "a genuine sense of mystery and even solemnity."

"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.

Many Latinos observe what they call the Day of the Dead, when it's believed the spirits of the departed return to Earth. There are different traditions for this across Latin America, and Hispanics in the U.S. are celebrating as well.

“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.

Hindus honor thousands of deities, and every Hindu has a favorite god, but Ganesha is "a god that is chosen by almost everybody because he is the remover of obstacles," says Professor S. N. Shridhar.

“He is the maintainer, the preserver, the one who saves the earth over and over again, “ says Joan Cummins, curator of the Brooklyn Museum’s exhibition “Vishnu: Hinduism’s Blue-Skinned Savior.”

It was the Bible of the speeches of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr., says author Jon Sweeney. “It’s the basis of cultural identity in the United States more than any other book.”