The “Burning Tent Ceremony” at noon of Ashura is one of the ancient rituals of Muharram. In this ritual, tents set up in the color of black, white, or green on the tenth day of Muharram are ignited.In this ceremony, the last moments of Imam Hussain's farewell to his family, and then parts of how Imam Hussain was martyred, and then the burning of the tents of Imam Hussain and his companions by Omar Saad's army, and at the end, the capture of Imam Hussain's family and the family of Imam Hussain's companions. Most of the time, mourners for Imam Hossein take pieces of the remaining cloth as consecration. The origin of this ritual in Iran goes back to the Safavid era (1501-1736 AD).The following photo collection is a narration of the burning tent ceremony in Tehran on September ‎30, ‎2017.

The Burning Tent Ceremony

During the Iran-Iraq war, a center called Martyrs' Ascension Headquarters was established to identify the victims of the war. Anonymous victims who were not identified in the provinces were sent to the headquarters to make the identification in Tehran. After the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 598, which marked the end of the war, a group was sent by the Iranian government to the war-stricken areas to search for and find the missing. Searching for body parts of the soldiers has been in progress for many years and in various places in the south and west of Iran and abroad in Iraq and has continued until today. In the Ascension Headquarters of Tehran Martyrs, the body parts of many of the war victims are being delivered to their families after 30 years, and they are buried in different parts of Iran. Later, with the start of the Syrian civil war and Iran's military presence there, this place remained a place for families to hand over the bodies of those killed in the Syrian war, and now for years, the stories of the war in this country have no end.

Soldiers Coming Home

According to Iran Drug Control Headquarters, Iran has about 60 thousand ostentatious addicts. In 2009, it was said that each year, 130,00 new people become addicted to drugs in this country of 70 million people. Over a six-year period, a half million people received treatment in a drug program. It is not known how many of these people successfully found drug-free lives in these treatment centers. One of the main rehab camps (detox and recovery) in Tehran is "Ziadian”. This camp has been operating in 6 sections with about 500 person capacity and is supposed to get to 5 thousand capacity for the year 2021.

Amir Salehi

Amir Salehi

Rehab Camp