Jaloos In Manchester

Back in December, it was the sacred Islamic month of Muharram which has enormous significance for Shia Muslims in particular. This is because the Prophet Muhammad's grandson and the third Shia Imam Hussain was martyred on the 10th of this month at the Battle of Karbala. Millions of Shia Muslims mark this tragic event every year and in the UK many towns will hold a jaloos (procession).

This Muharram I only managed to attend two of these occasions and the first one of the season was held in Manchester. Unfortunately, it was raining too heavily to risk using my DSLR so I took these shots on a Panasonic Lumix GF3, which is a really useful little piece of kit for street photography. As always, the attendance was high despite the inclement weather and two hour event was as intense as ever.