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12th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Altered Images
The Kaparot Ceremony

Shot during a Hasidic Kaparot ceremony in Williamsburg, New York. The older men and women were teaching the children, who tended to the chickens, how the ceremony was performed. Kaparot, meaning 'atonements', is a ritual deemed by those who practise it as a transfer of the sins of the past year on to the chicken. After the ceremony, the chicken is ritually slaughtered and often the meat is distributed to the poor.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 10.2014
Date Uploaded: 11.2014
Photo Location: New York, New York, United States of America
Copyright: © Kieran Gosney