Muharram is not a festival but a period of mourning which
is celebrated by the Muslims especially the Shia community in the first
month of the Islamic calendar to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussein,
grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. He was murdered on the banks of the
river Euphrates, by the impious, Yazid, a Muslim ruler at Karbala in Mecca,
while resisting the anti Islamic forces.
This occasion is an important feature in the calendar of Lucknow as
it is the principal Shi'ite Indian city since the time of the Nawabs.
The festival is celebrated for over two months and eight days. Muslims
take fasting ten days before Muharram. There is a belief that taking fast
on the tenth day is very important to get rewards from the Deity. Muslims
begins the day with a bath. The Nafl Salat prayers and the Surah Ikhlas
are the main rituals performed religiously. Meetings are arranged and
devotees gathered in the Imambaras to hear the speeches of the Islamic
leaders about the story of martyrdom of Hussain.
Main attraction of the festival is the procession of carrying the decorated
Tazias, the colourful replicas of Hussain's tomb through the streets along
with the loud mourning by the followers about the death of Hussain. In
Lucknow devotees take part in the procession by beat their chest in mourning
according to the tune of beating drums and chants 'Ya Hussain' and impose
wounds on their own bodies. After the procession, the devotees return
home and break their fast.
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Uttar Pradesh 
