For another year, the custom of Piraeus has been revived in Piraeus, at the improvised site of Shia Muslims on Dimitra Street, the custom of Asura. This is the Islamic celebration, with which Muslim believers commemorate the death of Hussein ibn Ali, grandson of the prophet Mohammed – whom the Shiite and Alevi believe to be the successor of Mohammed.

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Hussein, along with other members of his family, died during the Battle of Karbala. According to the Shiites, Hussein was beheaded and his tomb, as early as the end of the 7th century, had become a place of pilgrimage. Public commemorations of Hussein’s martyrdom have a long history, but the rituals -which have been band in many countries- have evolved over time.

The culmination of the ten-day Asura celebrations is the self-flagellation ceremony, which is seen as a process of atonement. The images that unfolded were again brutal, as the whipping, essentially with blades, inflicts wounds on the bodies of the worshipers. This was preceded by a long prayer and the taking of protein food for those who participated in the bloody custom.