HOLY CITY OF KARBALA, Iraq: A ceremony to replace red standard (Alam) with a black standard on the golden tomb of the holy shrine of Al-Imam Abi Abdellah Al-Hussein (A) was held in the holy city of Karbala on the beginning of the mourning month of Moharram.

The color of the standard means much. Red color is a symbol that the personality lying under this tomb was killed unjustly and his revenge has not been taken yet, and that Al-Imam Saheb Al-Asr (A) will take revenge from the killers.

It has been a practice that during the mourning months of Moharram and Safar, red standard is replaced with a black one to signify sufferings of Al-Imam Al-Hussein (A), his Ahl-i-Bayt (A) and companions.

Large number of mourners and devotees attended the ceremony held at the holy shrine compound of Al-Imam Al-Hussein (A). majlis al-aza was held in which poets and elegists recited elegies in a most spiritual and mourning environment.