Ashura (redirected from Day of Ashura)

Ashura

land of punishment for those who die angry. [Jap. Myth.: Jobes, 140]

See : Punishment

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Ashura

First 10 days of Islamic month of Muharram

On the 10th of Muharram in the year 680, Muhammad's grandson Hussein (also spelled Husain) was killed in a skirmish between Sunnis and the small group of Shi'ite supporters with whom he was travelling to Iraq. They had been cut off from water and had suffered for 10 days before the men were killed and the women and children taken to Damascus, Syria, along with the heads of the men. His battlefield grave in Kerbela, about 60 miles southwest of Baghdad, became a pilgrimage site almost immediately, and to this day it remains a devotional center for Shi'ite Muslims around the world. Many aging Shi'ites settle in Kerbela or ask in their will to have their bodies carried to the holy city. So many dead have been sent to Kerbela that the town has been transformed into one vast burial ground.
This Islamic holy day, celebrated in the first month of the Islamic year, was derived by Muhammad from the Jewish fast of Yom Kippur; he later changed it to an optional fast day and it is so observed by modern-day Sunni Muslims. But for Shi'ites throughout Asia, the festival is dedicated to Hussein and begins on the first day of Muharram, when people put on their mourning clothes and refrain from shaving or bathing. The story of Hussein's martyrdom is recited in Muslim halls, with as much elaboration as possible. The celebration culminates on the 10th day of Muharram, in a large procession designed as a reenactment of Hussein's funeral, with many men whipping themselves bloody with whips and knives to take on the pain of Hussein. Since the early 19th century, the Hussein Day celebration has culminated in the performance of a ta'ziyah, or passion play, in which Hussein's life, death, and burial are recreated in a loose sequence of 40 to 50 scenes.
The Fatimid dynasty (969-1171) transferred Hussein's head to Cairo and built the Mosque of the Hasanain ('the two Hasans': Hasan and his brother, Hussein) over the relic. It is an especially holy place and is venerated also by Sunnis.
In India non-Shi'ites frequently take part in the processions, whereas in Iraq they would not be tolerated. Small replicas of Hussein's tomb, called Ta ziyehs (from the Arabic aza, meaning "mourning"), are carried and buried in the local "Kerbela" grounds: India is so far from Kerbela, Iraq, that Indian Shi'ites consecrate local lands so they, too, may be buried in "Kerbela" grounds.
In Jamaica and Trinidad the festival is called Hosay and is celebrated by Muslims and Hindus as a symbol of East Indian unity. In Guyana, it is called Tadja and is now celebrated by Afro- and Indo-Guyanese, after having been outlawed in the 1930s because of clashes between Muslims and Hindus when it coincided with Durga Puja.
In West Africa the holy day is combined with African beliefs, and ensuring prosperity is of uppermost importance: everyone eats as much as possible, inviting poor people to join them, because a full belly ensures prosperity. The Hausa give a fowl or goat's head to each member of the household, which they eat with their backs to each other. In Senegal, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, the dried head and feet of the ram killed at ' Id Al-Adha are cooked and eaten. Symbolic bathing in rivers and purification by leaping over small fires are followed by torchlight parades and contests.
In Turkey, the 10th of Muharram is called Yevmi Ashurer, (day of sweet soup or porridge) and commemorates Noah's departure from the Ark onto Mount Ararat. They must share Allah's gifts with others, so everyone makes ashurer, which is a sweet soup or porridge made of boiled wheat, dried currants, grain, and nuts, similar to that supposedly made by Noah and stored in the bins of the Ark. Each person is assigned a day to invite his neighbors to come and share it.

CONTACTS:
Embassy of Iraq
3421 Massachusetts Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20007
202-742-1600; fax: 202-462-5066
www.iraqiembassy.us

SOURCES:
AnnivHol-2000, p. 233
BkFest-1937, p. 237
ConEncyIslam-1991, p. 52
EncyRel-1987, v. 1, p. 462
FolkWrldHol-1999, p. 433
HolSymbols-2009, p. 53
MuhFest-1988, pp. 51, 85
OxYear-1999, pp. 732, 734
RelHolCal-2004, p. 144
UndIslam-2004, p. 261