During the first nine days of the month, various grief-stricken scenes from the battle of Karbala, also know as majlish, are enacted in Shiah mosques. On Ashura, the most important day, processions with Taziahs are taken out in commemeration of the sad event. The procession also includes a well-decorated horse, representing the horse of Imam Hussain. Emotional plays, enacting scenes from the battle of Karbala, are performed by bare-chested Shiah men.
They strike their body with chains while some walk with bare feet on burning coals. Crying "hai Hussain hum na rahe", meaning 'Oh Hussain, we were not there', they express their anguish at their in ability to have prevented him from being tortured. By beating themselves, the Shiahs relieve the pain Hussain suffered and thus express their sorrow.
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