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Ashura
Black clothes and black banners among Shia Muslims, in mourning for Husayn, with flags of red and green.
The colours of Ashura
For Shia Muslims the tenth of Muharram is the day of mourning for Husayn, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, who was killed with his companions at Karbala in the year 680. Mourners dress in black for the first ten days of the month and often longer. Streets, mosques and halls are draped in black cloth lettered in white, red or gold. In processions men carry tall standards and flags: red for the blood that was shed and that still calls for justice, green for the family of the Prophet, black for grief. In Lucknow and Hyderabad in India, models of Husayn's tomb called tazia, made of bamboo and coloured paper, are carried and then buried. Many Sunni Muslims keep the day with a voluntary fast.
#0D0D0DMourning blackDress and banners of grief for Husayn.#B3121DKarbala redFlags for the blood of the martyrs.#0B6B3AAhl al-Bayt greenFlags for the family of the Prophet.#F5F5F0Script whiteLettering on black banners.Values are fair approximations, not official shades.
Read about the colours
Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Ashura" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from family to family and place to place. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.