To mourn and weep for them is considered highly meritorious-rather, it is the key to Paradise. Husain s death in particular forms the core of the rituals. Communal mourning takes place through out the country. Self mutilation, beating oneself with chains and the sword is to remind the pious Shiites of the pain and the horrors the martyrs went through. The death of Husain is mourned with Passion plays, poetry and prose resounding with laments about the tragic fate of the Prophet s beloved grandson.
Lively story telling heightens real incidents of the heroes lives.
Gaps are filled with details that may or may not seem probable. The martyr s fidelity to God could never be questioned and they triumph in death. Small tablets and prayer beads made from the clay of Kerbela and other items symbolizing the tragic incidents are passed around and carried by the believers to convey blessings. The physical bodies of the martyrs become accidental. Death becomes a vehicle through which the true faith , is not only revealed and survives, but also triumphs.