Giving, grief and the ‘black anaconda’: Inside the world's biggest annual pilgrimage

A photographer documents the ‘raw emotion‘ of Arba'een—the movement of millions towards a small city in central Iraq to mourn a man who died almost 1,400 years ago.

The lines of black move along many roads in Iraq during Ara'been. Many Shia Muslims see completed the pilgrimage at least once as an important part of their faith.

The lines start in all corners of the country. People of every age, wearing dark clothes, some holding flags, some dancing, some vocal, some reflective. Groups of men together, groups of women, families. The processions move along roads from every direction towards Karbala—which could be anything from a few hours to over a week’s walk away. Look down on the country from high above and these processions might resemble a kind of slender-limbed starfish, with this city as its centre point. On the ground, the locals use another animal as their analogy for the apparently endless, creeping line: they call it the ‘black anaconda’. 

However ominous the nickname, the annual pilgrimage of Arba’een brings a spontaneous

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