Muharram
Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar. Muharram is the starting of the Islamic year. Islamic calendar is lunar calendar so Muharram moves from year to year. This is the day Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Muhammad, was killed along with his family members and friends in the Battle of Karbala.
This festival starts at the 1st day of Muharram and lasts for 10 days until 10th of Muharram. Muharram means 'respected'. The tenth day, called Ashura, is observed as the day for a public expression of their grief and is the most important day of the month.
As part of the celebrations, Shi'is perform different passion plays, express grief in public and walk in parades through city streets where they carry a sarcophagus and whip their backs or foreheads with sticks, chains and swords. Many travel to Karbala in Iraq for pilgrimage.
Some sects of Muslims hold meetings where speeches are made on the happenings of Karbala and on the lives of martyrs. The Shias, however, observe this festival in a different fasion.
As Muharram, the first month of the Muslim year, approaches, they put on black clothes, as black is regarded as a color of mourning. Majalis (assemblies) are held every day during the first nine days where Shia orators relate the incident of the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain and his party in a great detail.
Commemoration of Ashura is not a festival, but rather a sad event for both Shi'as and Sunni Muslims -- and for Shias a period of intense grief and mourning. For the duration of the remembrance, it is customary for mosques and some people to provide free meals on certain nights of the month to all people.
Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar. Muharram is the starting of the Islamic year. Islamic calendar is lunar calendar so Muharram moves from year to year. This is the day Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Muhammad, was killed along with his family members and friends in the Battle of Karbala.
This festival starts at the 1st day of Muharram and lasts for 10 days until 10th of Muharram. Muharram means 'respected'. The tenth day, called Ashura, is observed as the day for a public expression of their grief and is the most important day of the month.
As part of the celebrations, Shi'is perform different passion plays, express grief in public and walk in parades through city streets where they carry a sarcophagus and whip their backs or foreheads with sticks, chains and swords. Many travel to Karbala in Iraq for pilgrimage.
Some sects of Muslims hold meetings where speeches are made on the happenings of Karbala and on the lives of martyrs. The Shias, however, observe this festival in a different fasion.
As Muharram, the first month of the Muslim year, approaches, they put on black clothes, as black is regarded as a color of mourning. Majalis (assemblies) are held every day during the first nine days where Shia orators relate the incident of the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain and his party in a great detail.
Commemoration of Ashura is not a festival, but rather a sad event for both Shi'as and Sunni Muslims -- and for Shias a period of intense grief and mourning. For the duration of the remembrance, it is customary for mosques and some people to provide free meals on certain nights of the month to all people.