All the year round fireworks and illuminations are very popular, so much so that the main work of the Government Arsenals seems to be the manufacture of fireworks. Another very popular form of entertainment is the _ruzehkhānī]_, or religious reading. It is considered a very pious act for a man to have a _ruzehkhānī_ in his house in the two months of Muharram, and his friends come in crowds and greatly prefer it to an ordinary party. Muharram is the time of mourning for Husain and Hasan, Muhammad’s grandsons. The courtyard is crowded with people sitting on the ground, and as the professional reader recites the story of the death of Husain and Hasan the people sway their bodies to and fro to the rhythm and gradually work up their excitement. Then they all begin to beat on their bare chests with the open hand and raise a wail that gradually grows in strength, till the wailing and the sound of the blows can be heard several streets off and the tears stream down their cheeks. It is very exciting, and grown-ups and children alike enjoy it thoroughly. But _the_ day of the year is the day of the death of Husain when the _nakhl_ is carried and the great passion play of the death of Husain and Hasan is played. This is a general holiday and all through the early part of the day, the villagers come trooping in to the towns. The streets are now full and processions pass along them carrying the _nakhls_ from the squares outside the smaller mosques. In some towns, too, they carry _alams_, or long poles with a series of handkerchiefs tied to them. When the processions from two different quarters of the town meet there is generally a struggle, often ending in a free fight; so both _alams_ and _nakhls_ are now forbidden in some towns. I only once met a procession myself, and then it most politely halted to allow me to pass comfortably. The smaller processions being over, everyone crowds to the large squares to see the carrying of the great _nakhls_ of the big mosques. The _nakhls_ are wooden frameworks carried on poles and hung on one side with looking-glasses, on the other with daggers. Those in the large squares are of immense weight. They are said on this day to be carried across the square by Fatimeh, Muhammad’s daughter, but it is a work of great merit to help her, so as many as can possibly get within reach of the poles join in the work, and the _nakhl_ moves across the square. But the afternoon is the best part when the great play of the death of Husain and Hasan is acted. Then, indeed, there is wailing and beating of breasts. “I enjoy it more than anything in the year,” one lady told me.