Mahdī's (Shia's Messiah) birthday celebrations in Iran

[kraf001]

I am sure many of you heard of Mahdi, the 12th Imam of Shias... while just like any historical/religious figure he has his own interesting story that you could read here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_al-Mahdi), the more interesting thing about him is his birthday which has always been a cause for one of the biggest public celeberations in Iran..

There are some events in Islamic calendar that are important only to Shias and 2 of the most important ones are the annual 2 day mourning for Battle of Karbala and Mid-Shaban (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Sha%27ban) (which basically is Mahdi's birthday)... while these two events carry significant religious values for devoted Shia Muslims, in Iran for years they have been the excuse for youth to party and mingle with opposite *** while experiencing almost no confrontation from government... this obviously leads to the criticism from non-Iranian Shia communities in regard of the true level of devotion of Iranians to the religion sect, but still the party is so huge that at the end of the day nobody cares!

here are some pictures from this year's Mid-Shaban celebration in Tehran:

http://64.40.99.49/Multimedia/pics/1385/6/photo/1138.jpg
http://64.40.99.49/Multimedia/pics/1385/6/photo/1139.jpg
http://64.40.99.49/Multimedia/pics/1385/6/photo/1140.jpg
http://64.40.99.49/Multimedia/pics/1385/6/photo/1141.jpg
http://64.40.99.49/Multimedia/pics/1385/6/photo/1142.jpg
http://64.40.99.49/Multimedia/pics/1385/6/photo/1143.jpg
http://64.40.99.49/Multimedia/pics/1385/6/photo/1132.jpg
http://64.40.99.49/Multimedia/pics/1385/6/photo/1133.jpg
http://64.40.99.49/Multimedia/pics/1385/6/photo/1134.jpg
http://64.40.99.49/Multimedia/pics/1385/6/photo/1135.jpg
http://64.40.99.49/Multimedia/pics/1385/6/photo/1136.jpg
http://64.40.99.49/Multimedia/pics/1385/6/photo/1137.jpg
http://media.farsnews.com/Media/8506/ImageReports/8506180024/1_8506180024_L600.jpg
http://media.farsnews.com/Media/8506/ImageReports/8506180024/2_8506180024_L600.jpg
http://media.farsnews.com/Media/8506/ImageReports/8506180024/3_8506180024_L600.jpg
http://media.farsnews.com/Media/8506/ImageReports/8506180024/5_8506180024_L600.jpg
http://media.farsnews.com/Media/8506/ImageReports/8506180024/6_8506180024_L600.jpg
http://media.farsnews.com/Media/8506/ImageReports/8506180024/8_8506180024_L600.jpg
http://media.farsnews.com/Media/8506/ImageReports/8506180024/12_8506180024_L600.jpg
http://media.farsnews.com/Media/8506/ImageReports/8506180024/14_8506180024_L600.jpg
http://media.farsnews.com/Media/8506/ImageReports/8506180024/15_8506180024_L600.jpg
http://media.farsnews.com/Media/8506/ImageReports/8506180024/16_8506180024_L600.jpg
http://media.farsnews.com/Media/8506/ImageReports/8506180024/17_8506180024_L600.jpg
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http://media.farsnews.com/Media/8506/ImageReports/8506180024/20_8506180024_L600.jpg
http://media.farsnews.com/Media/8506/ImageReports/8506180024/23_8506180024_L600.jpg

http://media.farsnews.com/Media/8506/ImageReports/8506180024/29_8506180024_L600.jpg

The last picture is Haleem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halim) being distributed free.

[Snoshi]

Nice pics Kraft!

[4_tune]

colorfull celebration there, nice pix there kraft...

[socom6]

Good pics!

[AussieJohnDoe]

http://64.40.99.49/Multimedia/pics/1385/6/photo/1140.jpg

Tower of Isengard? p-)

http://wulfen.rucus.net/isengard.jpg

[kraf001]

Tower of Isengard? p-)

http://wulfen.rucus.net/isengard.jpg

a much greener version though :)

http://www.karoon.com/services/ecards/cards_web/sites/azadi_square_day.jpg

[kraf001]

http://www.mehrnews.com/mehr_media/image/2006/09/220904_orig.jpg
http://www.mehrnews.com/mehr_media/image/2006/09/220906_orig.jpg
http://www.mehrnews.com/mehr_media/image/2006/09/220907_orig.jpg
http://www.mehrnews.com/mehr_media/image/2006/09/220903_orig.jpg
http://www.mehrnews.com/mehr_media/image/2006/09/220902_orig.jpg