Iran

Aerial view of the Imam Reza Shrine Complex and the city surrounding it

Main Temple Gate

Imam Reza Shrine

There are many people milling about as my taxi driver nears two fantastic onion-shaped towers, one gold and the other turquoise. The streets are becoming more congested with people. Many of the men wear black silk outfits, carrying grand flags with very ornate designs. Soon parades of chanting men in black are coming down the streets in all directions. (Wanderer, page 295)

Thousands of people are marching in the parade, and thousands are watching. I feel incredibly lucky to experience this Muslim spectacle of spectacles. A group of chanting men dressed in black silk costumes march by doing slow rhythms with wood blocks held in their clapping hands. (Wanderer, page 296)

I walk down a side street and witness the sacrificial ritual of a live sheep having its head cut off. The blood flows down the street, signaling another group of regimented marchers to get moving. (Wanderer, page 296)

Then a whole parade of chanters doing rhythmic flagellation’s on their backs with hand held whip chains. The blood flows down their backs onto their ripped shirts, as they alternate slapping from shoulder to shoulder, whipping themselves crimson red with the small chains. (Wanderer, page 296)

Finally, I make my way into the vast courtyard of the Mausoleum Mosque. I am carried along by the crowd of thousands into the inner sanctum of the interior of the great mosque amongst an ocean of Shia Muslim worshipers. (Wanderer, page 296)

Tehran, Iran

Maschad, Iran