Iran on Sunday allowed thousands of its Shia faithful to gather for one of the Islamic sect’s most important religious holidays, the latest attempt on the part of leaders to preserve a sense of normalcy even as the country grapples with high infection rates from coronavirus.
Iran has struggled to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 21,000 people in the country. Rather than keeping the country locked down, the government has sought to balance public-health concerns without strangling an economy battered by American sanctions.
That tension has become pronounced around the holiday of Ashura, an annual day of mourning for the world’s Shiites. Iran canceled the traditional street processions that typically showcase chest-beating marchers mourning the seventh-century killing of one of Shia Islam’s holiest figures. Iranians instead gathered in open areas, with most wearing masks and spaced several meters apart, although some mourners in Tehran gathered in close proximity, many without masks.
Authorities chastised citizens for using the holiday to travel around the country despite warnings that such trips could spur another surge of Covid-19 hospitalizations and overwhelm exhausted health workers. State media showed throngs of cars leaving Tehran toward vacation houses north of the capital and to other holiday destinations.
Health minister Saeed Namaki blamed “ignorance and nonchalance” of travelers for putting the country’s nurses and doctors at risk of another surge in infections.
“I wish I had the power, authority, instruments or assistance beyond begging, requesting and pleading,” Mr. Namaki said Saturday. Iran’s health ministry estimates that 164 Iranian health personnel have died from Covid-19.
The Ashura holiday is the highlight of the Islamic mourning month of Muharram, where Shia Muslims world-wide commemorate the seventh-century martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.
Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/Associated PressIranian President Hassan Rouhani echoed the warnings from the health ministry and implored travelers to be careful. “Those who travel must precisely follow health protocols, social distancing and avoid crowded places,” Mr. Rouhani said Sunday, according to the IRNA state news agency.
Iran was the first country in the Middle East to be hit hard by the virus. After reporting the first case of Covid-19 in the holy city of Qom in February, Iranian authorities identified religious sites and ceremonies as hot spots for the virus. They closed mosques, shrines and Friday prayers, despite anger from conservative clerics opposed to interference in religious practices.
After a lockdown slowed the virus’ spread, the government in April began reopening the economy, triggering rising infection rates. Iran for months has logged around 2,000 new cases daily. It has recorded 373,570 infections, including 21,462 deaths as of Sunday.
Even as the pandemic spread through Iran in the spring, the government struggled to prevent thousands of people from crisscrossing the country for the Persian New Year holidays in March. Those trips helped the virus spread outside the early epicenters.
Sunday’s Ashura holiday is the highlight of the Islamic mourning month of Muharram, where Shia Muslims world-wide commemorate the seventh-century martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.
In Iraq, crowds of worshipers gathered inside and outside shrines in the holy city of Kerbala, where Imam Hussein was killed, paying little heed to social-distancing measures promoted by the government. Despite an announcement from the local government that Kerbala province would be closed for Ashura, thousands of visitors still made it inside.
In Afghanistan, large crowds gathered in several cities with no social distancing and few worshipers wearing masks.
This year, some Iranian mourners carried not only banners with Imam Hussein’s image but also that of Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s most powerful military commander who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq in January and is also considered a martyr.
In Iran, black-clad mourners usually march through cities beating their chests and performatively self-flagellating with chains. In some countries, such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Iraq, rituals can be bloody, with some mourners using knives and sharp chains on their bare backs.
Instead of marching, mask-wearing mourners in Tehran on Sunday stood or sat. In most cities, reciters of religious verse drove through the streets chanting eulogies through loudspeakers on cars or trucks. Some residential complexes had turned parking lots into mourning areas furnished with plastic chairs.
To stress the importance of social distancing, state media in recent days released photos of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei sitting alone in a large congregation hall, wearing a mask and listening to sermons by a single preacher—a contrast to normal years where media broadcasts footage of the hall packed with his followers.
Iranians typically distribute warm food and drinks on the holiday, but the customary donation was replaced with dry, packaged food to take home. Some areas flouted those rules and served hot food.
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“This year, I was seriously against holding the ceremony, thinking, what if we transmit the virus and cause someone to get sick or even die,” Maryam Tadbir, a 35-year-old handicraft artist said. “But when I saw how meticulously the health protocols are respected, I changed my mind.”
Ms. Tadbir said that for religious Iranians, participating in Ashura is a duty, and that the pandemic had brought additional sadness to this year’s ceremonies.
“This disease has brought a lot of pressure. It was comforting to let it out and cry,” she said. “It was relieving.”
People gathered outside in Tehran on Sunday to mark the annual day of mourning for the world’s Shiites.
Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images—Ghassan Adnan in Baghdad contributed to this article
Write to Sune Engel Rasmussen at sune.rasmussen@wsj.com
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