内容摘要：Maronite Catholic faithful bring their hands together in prayer during a service in outside St. George Church in the Maronite village of Kormakitis in the breakaway north of the ethnically divided Cyprus on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Maronite Catholic faithful bring their hands together in prayer during a service in outside St. George Church in the Maronite village of Kormakitis in the breakaway north of the ethnically divided Cyprus on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

But as Maronites increasingly interacted with the island’s majority Greek-speaking population and became bilingual, Sanna evolved to incorporate several Greek words, adding to its uniqueness among the many Arabic dialects.According to Kariolemou, Sanna contains five vowels similar to Greek and another three similar to Aramaic, while consonants whose sounds are formed in the back of the throat have diminished, likely because of the Greek influence. Sanna also adopted Greek syntax, she said.

St. George Church in the Maronite village of of Kormakitis in the breakaway north of the ethnically divided Cyprus on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)St. George Church in the Maronite village of of Kormakitis in the breakaway north of the ethnically divided Cyprus on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)Until the mid-1970s, the Maronite community was largely centered around four villages: Asomatos, Ayia Marina, Karpasia and Kormakitis as the cultural center.

Listen to the pronunciation of the word “God.”But the 1974 Turkish invasion that split

into a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north and a Greek Cypriot south, where the internationally recognized government is based, saw most Maronites dispersed throughout the south.

Asomatos and Ayia Marina are empty of Maronite inhabitants and are now Turkish army camps.Romualdo Gomes, a professional musician, drums for Mocidade out of love, like all his companions. But he never loses sight of the nearest director guiding the beat.

“You just pay attention to the director,” Gomes said. “You have to pay attention — there’s a way to show every groove.”The drum section plays throughout a school’s entire parade, lasting between 70 and 80 minutes, striving to lose neither tempo nor flair. Carnival judges

for various categories, including drumming; it is assessed based on creativity, consistency and how well it suits each samba school’s theme and lyrics.A performer from the Mocidade samba school directs a float alongside artificial intelligence images of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, left, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos during Carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)