Arba'een

So this week commemorates the Shia Muslim holiday of Arba'een. From Wikipedia:

"Arba'een (Arabic: اربعين‎, means "forty"), or Chehlum, as it is known by Urdu-speaking Muslims, is a Shi'a religious observation that occurs 40 days after the Day of Ashurah, the commemoration of the martyrdom by beheading of Husayn bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad which falls on the 20th day of the month of Safar. Husayn and 72 supporters died in the Battle of Karbala in the year 61 AH (680 CE). Forty days is the usual length of the time of mourning in many Islamic cultures.
The occasion reminds the faithful of the core message behind Husayn's martyrdom: establishing justice and fighting injustice, no matter what its incarnation—a message that strongly influenced subsequent Shi'a uprisings against the tyranny of Umayyad and Abbasid rule."

In a nutshell, it involves a pilgrimage of an estimated 8 million Shi'ites to Karbala (south of here), and a good chunk of them will stroll down the street that is right in front of our compound. They started walking yesterday, and by many accounts last year, they had to close the road because there were so many people walking, which is good and bad. It is good because under Saddam, who was Sunni, you couldn't celebrate this holiday. It is bad in that it provides a nifty opportunity for some dumb disenfranchised AQI Sunni holdover to stage a spectacular attack in a poor intent to incite sectarian violence. I think the past week's elections showed we may be over the sectarianism hump, but time will tell.

The people will walk for around five days. Along the way, homes are opened and people set up tents and feed the masses as they come through. I suppose it's an interesting way to spend time with families and friends.

I took some pictures during one of our movements today (I broke the Sony one), but they didn't come out too well due to thick and dirty bulletproof glass. Here's some walkers:

Other than that, things are good. We are in a bit of a rut; I suppose working for going on four months straight with little change will do that to you. Off to the gym to try to break it.

Hope you are well.

Take care

Ron