Eternal Performance
About This Book
Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar, and its rituals trace back to Karbala, a desert plain in what is now a town in Iraq. According to tradition, Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, was killed there on the tenth day of the month along with seventy-two of his male companions. The name Muharram therefore refers both to the month and to that day. Shia Muslims regard Hussein's suffering and death as the supreme example of sacrifice. Over some thirteen centuries many rituals grew up around it, above all in Iran, where Twelver Shi'ism became the state religion in the sixteenth century. This collection of essays follows those rituals as they moved beyond Iran. They spread through Iraq and Lebanon, the Indian subcontinent, North America and the Caribbean, with Pakistan, India, the United States and Trinidad among the places discussed. Wherever and however they are performed, all of them go back to Karbala. Their present-day forms are the product of many races, religions and artistic traditions meeting and reshaping one another. The essays each take a different angle: the history of the observances, their artistic side, questions of gender, their use as political statements, and the difficulties of adapting them for Western audiences. The contributors come from performance studies, anthropology, medieval studies and Middle Eastern studies. Together they examine what Muharram means socially, politically, culturally, artistically and religiously for the millions of people who observe it around the world.
ISBN: 9781803094458
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