Thread by @desmukh

Youtube Anthropology & the Globalisation of Muharram [A long thread]

1/ As it is Muharram, I wanted to share one of my ongoing personal projects: a map of YouTube videos of Muharram rituals around the world:
google.com/maps/d/viewer?…

2/ I did an initial write up back in 2010 explaining the map and some interesting migration patterns, in the link below. However since then I've added many more videos and different types of rituals to the map, some of which I'll highlight in this thread
desmukh.com/blog/2010/12/e…

3/ One of the most interesting rituals to mark Muharram is found in parts of central India where people dress up as tigers and do a street performance in the neighborhood. See this sample from the village of Potharam in Telangana.

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4/ In this video, from Pandharkawada, Maharashtra, a "tiger" is seemingly taken to a sufi shrine to do a performative ziarat, with chadar draped around his neck and all

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5/ These are the trippiest Muharram dancing lions I've ever seen. From Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh

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6/ Another fascinating Hindu-Sunni-Shia syncretic ritual in India comes from rural parts of Telangana where Muharram is locally known as Peerla Pandaga, or "the Festival of Pirs", in which the alams take on a life of their own.

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7/ I won't attempt to deconstruct what these rituals mean to the participants, but if you're interested, you can read scholar @afsartelugu's book Festival of the Pirs

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8/ And this is a Telugu women's folk song that is sung during Muharram/Peerla Panduga in the village of Basireddipalle

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9/ Now let's follow some patterns, starting in Iran where there is a ritual known as 'alamat kashi' in which young men lift a heavy structure made up of several alams and then spin around with it. The video below is from the town of Sirjan

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10/ There is also the nakhl gardani ceremony in Iran in which hundreds of men carry a massive wooden structure representing Hussain's coffin and parade it in circles. This video is from the town of Ashkezar, near Yazd

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11/ I don't know if there's any connection, but both previous Iranian rituals bear similarities to the separ Muharram ritual found in north east India, especially Bihar, in which a large decorative piece representing a shield is twirled around.

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12/ Another video of separ from the town of Jhapla in Jharkhand

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13/ Indentured workers from northeast India took the separ ritual to Trinidad in the Caribbean around the turn of the century under the British empire. Here the separ/shield now symbolises the moon. (See anthropologist @FrankKorom's Hosay Trinidad)

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14/ Ashura, locally know as Hosay, has national significance because of its role in Trinidad anti colonial struggle (look up Hosay Massacre).

In addition to separ, it also features other traditions from Indian Muharram, such taziyas and dhol tasha

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15/ Let's go back to Iran and look at the spread of two Muharram traditions native to the south of the country, around the city of Bushehr: sanj o dammam drumming and circular sineh zani (chest beating).

Sanj o dammam is a dhol-like drum and cymbals:

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16/ Bushehri sineh zani is ritual chest beating performed in a specific manner in which the participants use one hand to beat their chest and the other placed on the back of their neighbour, and they collectively step to the rhythm in a spiral shape

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17/ Through empire, trade and migration, these 2 traditions have spread across the world. This video of dammam o sanj is from Kuwait

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18/ This is Bushehri sineh zani in Bahrain. Persian influence in Bahrain goes back centuries, but large migration from southern Iran took place around the turn of 20th century when it was administered by the British political agent in Bushehr

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19/ The Isna Ashari Khojas, a mercantile community from the Indian coastal region of Gujarat, adopted Bushehri sine zani and Dammam drumming, presumably through trade and intermarriage with Bushehri Iranians. This is Dammam being performed in Mumbai

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20/ Dammam drumming in Karachi's Kharadar neighbourhood, where many Khojas have traditionally resided.

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21/ Bushehri sineh zani or Bushehri matam in Karachi, Pakistan

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22/ Bushehri matam in Pune, India in 2006. Note that Pune has a sizable community of Iranian university students, so there might be additional cross-fertilization happening.

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23/ From India, the Khoja Isna Asharis took their version of Busheri sine zani to East Africa with the British empire. This video from Tanga in Tanzania, from 1996.

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24/ Busheri matam or "saff ka matam" in Arusha, Tanzania

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25/ I even found a video of Busheri matam being performed all the way in the other side of Africa in Luanda, Angola. Presumably the participants are Khojas settled there for trade, though I'm just speculating.

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26/ If you follow the orange lines on my map you can see Bushehri sine zani being practised in the UK & US by the Khoja community and in Germany by Iranians, following more recent economic migration patterns. But let's continue close to Africa for now...
google.com/maps/d/viewer?…

27/ While looking for Muharram videos in Africa, I found Khojas everywhere. On mainland Africa, be it Kampala, Uganda...

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28/ ... Khojas in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo

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29/ Khojas in Maputo, Mozambique

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30/ Khojas in Bujumbura in Burundi

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31/ And not just on mainland Africa, but the Khoja diaspora can be found in almost all of the former French island colonies in the Indian Ocean. Let's start with the Comoros Islands

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32/ Moving on to the neighbouring island, Khojas in Mayotte

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33/ Khojas seem to practice Muharram rituals in several towns of Madagascar. This video is of a procession in the town of Mahajanga including many people who appear to be native Madagascans, maybe recent converts

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34/ Khojas on Reunion Island. Note the signs in French with very French slogans. "Paix", "Equité", "Respect"

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35/ ... And finally, Khojas in Mauritius

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36/ I want to end this long thread with just a few more interesting examples of Muharram rituals. Staying in Mauritius, Ashura is popularly known as Ghoon and is a festival marked by non-Shias also, in unorthodox fashion

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37/ I believe the body piercings are by members of the Rifai sufi order who are renowned for this. Stay tuned for a separate thread with videos of Rifai rituals from around the world, but for now let's continue with Muharram…

38/ Tabuik (also Tabot) is a manifestation of Ashura and a festival in Indonesia, primarily in parts of Sumatra. It bears some of the features of north Indian Muharram, including Tazias and Dhol Tasha drumming

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39/ Zikr chanting on Ashura by Halveti sufis in a tekke in Skopje, Macedonia

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40/ Alevi ritual, presumably mourning for Hussain, in Istanbul, Turkey

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41/ Mourning procession in Tokyo using Urdu poetry, so presumably by Pakistani and/or Indian migrant workers?

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42/ And a final few videos close to Pakistan. There is a Pashto sufi Shia community in and around the Kurram and Hangu districts of KP who are devotees of Syed Mir Anwar Shah. This video is from Marai Bala where an Anwaari shrine is located

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43/ They practice the rites of Muharram in unorthodox fashion, most notably using the music of clarinet/surnay and dhol during sina zani, and even zanjeer zani/self flagellating. It's quite a surreal scene and not for the faint hearted!!

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44/ The Tragedy of Karbala happened in the scorching deserts of Arabia, and yet it resonates with people living amongst the world's highest snow-covered mountains. This is a mourning procession in the Nagar Valley of Gilgit-Baltistan.

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45/ Last video of the thread. This has to be one of the most remarkable settings for a majlis. This is in Ingut, Baltistan, near the River Indus, inhabited by ethnic Tibetan Shias and probably members of the Noorbakhshi spiritual community.

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46/ That's it for this thread. Wish I had more time to discuss everything I've learned while building this map, but I encourage you to explore the map yourself if youre interested. And please do send me any interesting additions/corrections.

google.com/maps/d/viewer?…

47/ I hope this thread and map has shed some light on:
a) how Muharram rites reveal paths of migration, trade and empire
b) how Muharram rites can become a vehicle to preserve local traditions
c) how YouTube videos can allow us to find global social patterns without travelling

48/ I'll try to put this thread up as post on my blog at some point. And I'll also soon share another of my ongoing YouTube anthropology projects, about the globalisation of Rifa'i sufi order and their rites.

49/ Here's a sneak peak of my upcoming Rifa'i sufi rites video map, from the Maluku Islands of Indonesia.

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[End of thread!]