RELIGION-ASHURA/GREECE-MIGRANTS Shi'ites in Greece mark the day of Ashura with blood and tears

Record ID: 135592

  • Title: RELIGION-ASHURA/GREECE-MIGRANTS Shi'ites in Greece mark the day of Ashura with blood and tears
  • Date: 24th October 2015
  • Summary: PIRAEUS, GREECE (OCTOBER 24, 2015)(REUTERS) SHI'ITES MARKING ASHURA SITTING IN THE MIDDLE OF STREET AND CRYING/ ONE MAN HITTING HIS HEAD WITH HIS HANDS REPEATEDLY MAN CRYING WITH HIS ARMS STRETCHED OUT MEN SITTING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET CRYING MAN CRADLING HIS HEAD IN HIS HANDS PARTICIPANT STANDING IN FRONT OF CROWD AND SPEAKING TO THEM VARIOUS OF MAN IN A TURBAN SITT
  • Embargoed: 8th November 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4O4M352DXY2C69P5IYB4IAZMX
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Hundreds of Shi'ite Muslims in Greece on Saturday (October 24) observed the religious festival of Ashura with prayer, song and self-flagellation, commemorating the death of Imam Hussein bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad who was killed in the battle of Kerbala, Iraq in the 7th century.
    In a small side street near the Greek port of Pireaus, barefoot Shi'ites from Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, and India gathered to mourn his death at the hands of a
    Sunni rival.
    Dozens of them participated in the ritual of drawing blood by self-flagellation to emulate his pain.
    The Shi'ites stripped off their shirts, beat their chests, sang and prayed before flagellating themselves with an instrument that had thin chains from which short, sharp blades hung.
    "They don't feel pain, it's, shall we say, a miracle of the celebration ritual that despite the self-flagellation with blades, the faithful feel no pain," said Syed Ashir Haider Rizvi, a representative of Greece's Shia Muslim Community.
    A horse with a richly decorated harness wandered the streets symbolising the horse Imam Hussein was riding the day he died.
    Imam Hussein was killed in the Battle of Karbala in what is now modern-day Iraq in 680 CE.
    The day of Ashura is the tenth day of the Shi'ite mourning month of Muharram which commemorates the battle and is and one of the most important religious festivals in the Shia Muslim calendar.
    It is observed in Iraq and other countries with sizeable Shi'ite communities, including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Lebanon and Pakistan.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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