The Shi’a Muslim holiday of Ashura is marked by an ancient ritual of blood-letting. The Daily Star of Lebanon reports on a new tradition of giving blood instead:

Thousands of Shiite Muslims gathered in central Nabatieh on Wednesday to take part in a centuries-old blood-letting ritual to mark the climax of Ashura. The ceremony commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammad and one of Shiite Islam’s most revered figures. Every year, devotees cut themselves on the head in a symbolic gesture of sorrow at Hussein’s death.

…But the practice has been frowned upon by some Shiite religious authorities, who say it portrays followers in a bad light and that they should instead donate blood for medical use.

Both Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah and Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah have urged their followers not to take part in the bloodletting, and as the streets of the town filled with black-clad devotees Wednesday, health workers manned mobile donation stations on the route of the march. “We are hoping to collect maybe 100 units of blood today,” said Shamoun Assaf from the Red Cross.

Read the full article here.

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