The bazaars in the southern Iraqi city of Basra did exceptional business on the eve of Ashura, which is marked annually by the Shi'a community across the Muslim world as a 10-day period of mourning for the 6th-century murder of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

Demand for black clothing is unprecedented, as is the demand for metal chains and swords which mourners use to beat their backs until bleeding, to identify with the blood of the martyr Hussein.

Source: Sotaliraq, Iraq, January 31, 2007