For the first six days, nothing else takes place, but on the {240} seventh day the 'Alam-i-Qasim is taken out in public procession. This is to represent the marriage of Qasim, the son of Hasan, to the favourite daughter of Husain, just before the death of the latter. The event is now commemorated by the bearing of Qasim's standard in procession. It is usually borne by a man on horseback. If it is carried by a man on foot, he reels about like a drunken man to show his grief. The crowd shout out: Bridegroom! Bridegroom! After perambulating the principal thoroughfares, the people bring the standard back to its own 'Ashur Khana. As the standard which represents Qasim is supposed to be a martyr, it is then laid down, covered over, and treated as a corpse. Lamentation is made over it as for one dead. Sherbet is then produced, and a Fatiha is said, after which the standard is again set up in its own place. The Neza, a lance or spear, with a lime on the top, to recall to remembrance the fact that Yezid caused Husain's head to be thus carried about, is taken in procession from one place to another. The Na'l Sahib (literally, Mr. Horse-shoe) is the representation of a horse shoe, and is meant to remind the people of the swift horse of Husain. Vows are frequently made to this standard. Thus a woman may say to it: "Should I through your favour be blessed with offspring, I shall make it run in your procession." If she attains her wish, the child when seven or eight years old has a small parasol placed in its hand and is made to run after the Na'l Sahib. If two 'Alams, or standards, meet, they embrace each other, that is they are made to touch. Fatiha is then said and the respective processions pass on their way. The Buraq, supposed to be a fac-simile of the horse sent by Gabriel for Muhammad to make the night ascent to heaven (Ante. p. 159) is also taken out. On the evening before the tenth day, which according to the Muslim mode of computing time is the tenth night, the whole of the Tazias and the 'Alams are taken out in {241} procession. It is a scene of great confusion, for men and boys disguised in all sorts of quaint devices run about. It is the carnival of the Musalman year.