Iran: Worshipers take to streets and burn ceremonial tent for Ashura

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Shia worshippers took to the streets of Tehran on Thursday to take part in the annual Ashura commemoration rituals.

People gathered in a square to erect and burn down a symbolic tent.

This year people have been allowed to participate in the ceremonies with an obligation to observe social distancing amid COVID-19 restrictions.

Every year with the advent of Muharram, Shi'a around the world hold mourning ceremonies for Imam Hussein, which usually continue to the 11th or 12th of Muharram and, in some regions, to the end of the month of Safar (the following month).

The day of Ashura is the climax of the mourning and is an official holiday in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.

SOUNDBITES:

SOT, Ali Asghar Bahrami, Attendee (Farsi): “This ceremony and the tent that is set up on this day makes all the mourners gather here, together, to show Husseini's passion and understanding as well as unity and empathy to everyone, and to show that love for Imam Hussein causes everyone to gather here for Imam Hussein, in any form and appearance and any religion, and to mourn for Imam Hussein and his faithful companions.”

SOT, Saleh Golshan, one of the organizers of the Ashura ceremony (Farsi): “This burning of the tent is a ritual that has existed for hundreds of years, since after the year 61 AH, generation after generation, and it has been seen that all the mourners of Imam Hussein, with their bare feet, beating their heads and chests and chanting ‘Ya Hussein’, revive this ceremony. They come close to the tent and burn the tents in memory of the fire at Imam Hussein's tents. This burning of the tent is reminiscent of the noon of Ashura in the year 61 AH.”

SOT, Fatemeh Gholizadeh, Attendee (Farsi): “In my opinion, this goes back to the beliefs of the people themselves. If our main goal and sincere intention of our heart is to believe in Imam Hussein and to believe in God, we will come [attend the ceremonies] despite the coronavirus. God willing, Imam Hussein will bless our fate and the fate of these processions, and I do not think that the Iranian people will be endangered.”

SOT, Saeed Ebadi, Attendee (Farsi): “We must learn a lesson from this day and be able to emulate the lesson that Imam Hussein taught everyone about freedom and liberty.”

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