Unhappy holidays: Ashura 2011

Anyone in need of  history lesson regarding Ashura, look here.  In Lebanon most of those who mark the event stick to ritual chest-smacking and non take it to the extremes as those in the southern town of Nabatiyeh. It's a bit of a gratuitous event for me, no real news value as such but visually it's certainly arresting.  Walking backwards amid a large group of excitable men vigorously waving large, sharp swords takes a modicum of faith; fortunately the inevitable spatters I had to clean off myself and my gear were all due to mourners.

Fadlallah's funeral

The Guardian had this to say about Lebanon's most senior Shiite cleric, who died of a longstanding illness on Sunday and was buried today. Hundreds of thousands of mourners jammed the streets of Haret Hreik, a suburb in South Beirut on what felt like one of the hottest days of the year so far. The guy in the last frame is misting the crowds with a much welcomed water hose - not so great for cameras. Haret Hreik is usually off limits for photographers who don't have a very good reason to be there, so it was nice to actually be assisted by the Hezbollah officials who'd usually be taking a very different view.

A nausea-inducing stop motion video of all the day's frames is here - first attempt at this, needs some tweaking but it gives you an idea of the scale of the day.

Ashura

Although most of the Shiite community have toned down their commemoration of the death of Prophet Mohammed's grandson, those in the Lebanon's southern town Nabatieh still go the whole hog. The head is cut with a razor and then smacked repeatedly to make the blood flow, or, as per the really messy ones below, the head is repeatedly struck with some force by a massive great big poke your eye out sword. For you here in all its gory goodness...

For news on the bombs that marred the observation of Ashura in Beirut's suburbs have a look here