Ashura, the ten day mourning ceremony -I

You know how Shiaaism was established? It was us- Iranians- who made it up to keep our identity. Let me explain more:
During the dynasty of Sasanids, Arabs invaded Iran and occupied the country. Iranian poor fed up with the terrible class discrimination imposed by Sasanid kings, helped the invaders to conquer the country. The Iranian poor were astonished and amazed by the promises of Peace and Brotherhood the Moslems spoke about. Later, the people who faced the wrongness of the promises of the 'liberator's rose up and fought the invaders. We have stories of the clashes between the people and the conquerors in our history. Very bloody indeed.
There are stories that before death, prophet Mohammad made his will that the first Khalifa after him, when he dies would be Ali ,his son-in-law and cousin, the first man who accepted Islam. When the Prophet died, the Arab elderly people gathered and decided that Ali was too young to be the leader of Moslems. They decided that not Ali but that would be Abubakr who would be the substitute of the Prophet. This way, all the long long problems between the majority and those who were supporting Ali, began- what we call them today as Sunnis and Shiaas.
Iranians who were themselves against Arab power, invited Ali to their own country. Yes, we had our own problems with Arabs, so naturally we sought allies. This is the reason that Ali moved to Kufa, Iraq ,the then western city of Iran. Kufa was just a few hundred kilometeres away from Tisfun, the then Iranian capital city.
So, Shiaa (means the 'followers') of Imam Ali, found a mostly Iranian taste. For instance, to express us to be different, when we prepare for prayers, we (I don't mean myself, I don't pray. I mean Iranian Moslems) wash our hands and feet in a different way that Sunnis do. When standing for prayer, we don't put our hands on each other like what Sunnis do, etc. To tell you briefly, Shiaa is actually an Iranian version of Islam. Later when the third son of Ali was killed by Yazid (the then Khalifa from Omavid family), Iranians held Iranian kind of ceremonies to mourn his death. That's why what we have now as Ashura, is very Iranian. It is exactly like the mourning ceremonies we held for ourselves in ancient Iran. We had a tradition of mourning in Iran called 'Sowashoon'. Ashura is very smiliar to it. It is an imitation of it actually.
Ashura is the tenth day of Muharram, the lunar month. It is the commemoration of the 'martyrdom' of Hossein and his friends killed in Karbala. Traditionally, Muharram is a mourning month for Shiaas. No celebration, no wedding is held during this month. The climax is always Ashura and the day before it 'Tasooa' (Ashura is an Arabic word meaning 'the tenth' and Tasooa means 'the nineth').
If you come to visit Iran during the first days of Muharram, you would see black flags all around. There are mourning groups, beating the drums and cymbals marching in the streets, beating on their chests and crying to commemorate the innocence of Hossein.
At the front of the mourning group, you usually see a metal feature carried by volunteers, it is called 'Alam'. I took this picture you see here a couple of days ago and it is an Alam resting to be carried during Tasooa and Ashura. Look at the structure, doesn't it remind you the cross? Just imagine it carried by someone on his shoulders, doesn't it remind you the Christ and the cross on his shoulder? Can you trace the similarity of it and the Christian stuff?

Ta'ziye
For Ashura we even have a traditional kind of street theater, called Ta'ziye. The theater is a narration of the event played by traditional actors. It usually begins the story since the time Imam Hossein began to gather his friends and prepare for the war. The theater shows the agonies he and his followers went through. The peak of the theater is when at the midday of Ashura, Imam and his bunch of followers (they were totally 72), fought Yazid and all were killed. Then it goes on to the time that the survived members of family are taken as prisoners and to the jail.
Well, the people around cry so loudly when the watch the theater and it goes sometimes that some even attack the poor guy who performs the role of Shemr- murderer of Imam Hossein.

Cat walkers in Tehran

Look how they look at the model. Especially the second man from the right.

Is it clothes or bed sheet she is wearing?!?

This is not the first fashion show in Tehran but it’s interesting to see the Government swings from suppression to trying to convince the women on how to wear. Clothes code has been a read headache for Islamic regime. They love us to wear loose long dark ugly manteaus when we would love opposite: tight, short, shiny color coats. They follow their own demands and would do whatever we love. Here, comes the ‘clash’, sometimes the 'form' is detention and being whipped, sometimes it turns to be nice smiley chadored woman coming to us, ‘recommending’ us to pull down our scarf or wipe off our make up (if we don't subordinate, then frowny unpleasant bearded men will show up to say that the smiles can turn to bitter frowns if we don't do what the 'sisters' have told) and sometimes it just is having a blind eye on us.
So, this is the second time they are holding such a show in Tehran. One may wonder do they really think that these clothes can attract us at all? If they don’t, so why they waste thousands of our oil income (the main source of the money in this country)on such an absurdity? Just imagine there are strong news spread about the possiblity of a US invasion in March 07, and then when you hear the news on TV or read them in the papers, you think is it the same Iran they are speaking about?

For seeing the rest of the pictures you can check here and here.

The Miracle of Technology

In older days we used to judge the beauty of the people around. “This woman has beautiful eyes, that man is so handsome, etc.” Nowadays, thanks the cosmetic operations and the ‘drastic’ changes the surgeons make in the appearances of the people, it’s better you keep silent because you don’t know whose eyes are his or whose butts are hers.
The same is for the pictures. Looking at pictures, you hardly can judge whether it is real or fake. Look at this funny picture. It’s photoshoped. But is it hard to believe that Da Vinci has made it himself? So ‘natural’ it looks!

Thank you, Mahmood!

A very excellent article in Israeli daily, Yediot Aharanot, about and his stances against Israel. I loved it. It confirms that despite his rhetoric, Ahmadi-nejad is a big help and support for Zionism in practice. It begins:
"This may sound wild and crazy, but the more we examine Iran's president's actions, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that in today's reality, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - who would have been better left off the stage - is good for the Jews. "
I prefer the word 'Zionists' instead of Jews.

The latest achievement of the conference in Tehran held by foreign ministry of Ahmadi-nejad’s government on Holocaust has been urging reputable organizations all over the world to express their anger and frustration and cutting their cultural ties with Iran. In the mentioned conference, the white racists had a chance to deny this wound on the face of history outrageously. Who will benefit such actions? Surely, not us!

This is a letter written by a newly released Palestinian militant, about the conference and Ahmadi-nejad’s stances.

We- Iranians

A jewish friend has written this to me:

"My point is, I believe the majority of the Iranian people, no matter their religion, yearn to be free of their governing theocracy... they yearn to have free access to cup-of-coffee jokes, including ones from all points of view... in my inner heart, I even think most, or at least many, could learn to accept Jews in their midst, as they did once, and would grasp a live-and-let-live philosophy if it meant peace for themselves and their unborn children.Am I right?".

Well, I can't say that's all true or wrong for all Iranian population; consider that we are speaking about 70 millions.

Iranians are mostly religious. It means that they believe in some kind of faith. Atheists like me or the people who for some reason don't feel any relationships with the heavens are a small minority. In this regard, we resemble Americans rather than Europeans. But something is for sure; as the society goes on and the development pushes forward, the depth of it and the vastness of it is reducing. At the same time we are not like Arab countries, religion although being so important in life is not interwoven in all parts of our being. I mean, we have nationality which is different from religion. Despite Arab fellows, our most important national feast is just national. All the attempts done by Iranian regime to bind it in a way to Islam have doomed.

The feeling about the regime: well, that's not easy to answer too. The people are so dissatisfied with it but it doesn't mean that they are just on the verge of a revolution against it. As you see, most of Iranians have picked a peaceful way for changes. Yes, it is partly because they are fed with bloodshed and harshness, but it is also because the people find the peaceful way, a far more feasible way for change. And of course one reason for doing so is lack of organizations. The people don't know how to get to their objectives. There is no leader, no union, no syndicate. So, the scattered people just try to survive in a way that they find applicable.

Relationship with others: Ah, that's such a sophisticated thing to discuss about. This friend of us writes about Jewish people and Iranians' feelings about them. Hey my friend, we have no problem with Jewish people. At least not more than what we have among ourselves. Iran is a multi-ethnic country. Inside the country and among ourselves, you should see how we are proud of what we are (in a stupid way), assume ourselves better and superior than others (again in a very stupid manner) and make jokes about others. We have jokes about a part of the nation to be always 'stupid', another part to be 'homo', another part to be loose when it comes to consider sex ( these men are said to be always easy when their wives goes with other men), another part to be stingy and etc. So, if there is any mockery, it is not because of hatred or something; may be it's because our life is so tough and we are sick of being always serious. It's may be because we need fun.

Conclusion:
Making a CNN type picture about Iran is totally wrong. It takes you nowhere. This country is so big, has a huge population and has deep roots in history. The people are different in many ways. They are similar in other ways. They are changing at the same time. They can be classified in some categories when at the same time, it is so naïve if we do that. We are learning. We are changing. I don't mean in a good way, sometimes we are losing good characteristics. Well, anyway, we need to be studied and looked upon carefully. Don't try to simplify us.