Dates : Coming with the new moon,this festival marks the end of Ramzan,

theninth month of the Muslim year, and is celebrated in April / May.

Legend : It was during this month thatthe holy Koran was revealed.

Practice : Muslims keep a fast every dayduring this month and on the completion of the period, which is decided by theappearance of the new moon, Id-ul-Fitr is celebrated with great eclat. Prayersare offered in mosques and Idgahs and elaborate festivities are held.

Dates : Muharram is not a festival inthe celebratory sense as it mourns the Karbala tragedy when Imam Husain,grandson of Prophet Muhammad, was martyred in the 61st year of the Hijra (A.H.).It takes place during the first month of the Muslim calendar in August /September. It is observed in different ways in various parts of India, but thetheme of mourning is constant throughout.

Legend : After the death of theProphet, questions of succession arose. There could be no successor of thespiritual head, because Islam believes in finality of Muhammad in the prophetictradition. After him, the Koran was considered the final word in revelations andsettlement of disputes and conflicts.

However,a successor to the position of Caliph was needed. Muhammad had namedno successor, and had only one daughter Fatimah, who was married to Ali, and hadtwo children - Hassan and Hussein. One camp believed that succession shouldremain within Mohammed's family, while another disagreed.

Finally,Abu Bakr, a loyal follower of Muhammad was elected Caliph. His reign waspeaceful, as was that of his successors. However, during the reign of Ali, therewas major opposition from the masses, and as a result of the aggression, Ali wasassassinated. His son Hassan was poisoned, while his other son Hussein waskilled in the battle of Karbala. This tragic circumstance divided the Muslimcommunity into sects - the Shiahs and the Sunnis. The Shiahs consider Ali,Hassan and Hussein the rightful Caliphs and publicly mourn their death duringMuharram.

Practice: Profusely decoratedtaziyas (bamboo and paper replicas of the martyr's tomb), embellished withgilt and mica, as well as green alams (standards of Hazrat ImamHussain's army) made of silver, copper and brass, are carried through citystreets. A horse is led in the procession in memory of Hussain's horse Dul Dul.Wrestlers and dancers enact scenes depicting the battle at Karbala. Every day, marsiyars(mourning verses) are recited in honour of the martyred, as young men beat theirbreasts crying "Husain! Husain!" in collective sorrow. On the tenthday, the processions carrying the taziyas and alams is calledAshura. It terminates in open spaces called Imambaras, where the taziyasare buried, or in the local burial ground known as the Karbala.

Thistragedy is observed with great passion in Lucknow, in particular, as it is thecentre of Shia culture and religious activities, and accordingly a large numberof taziyas and the alams are taken out all over the city. Inthe village of Banagaon in the Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh, people wearblack and celebrate the festival with grandeur.