Thousands of Iraqi Shi'ite Muslims have thronged the holy city of Kerbala for the first time in decades to mark one the most sacred moments of their year.
The pilgrims - many with chests, heads and faces bloodied from self-flagellation -hanted in praise of Imam Hussein, a grandson of Islam's Prophet Mohammad and one of the first leaders of the Shi'ite Muslim community.
Shi'ite leaders say a million or more may flock to Kerbala, 70 miles south of Baghdad, for the climax of the pilgrimage, Arbaiin, the 40th day after the death of Hussein.
Such reglious processions were banned under Saddam Hussein's secular government, which cracked down the Shi'ites - a 60 per cent majority in Iraq - and suppressed their religious practices. The last major celebration of Arbaain, in 1977, ended with Saddam's forces massacring Shi'ites on the roads to Kerbala.
Pilgrim Abdul Satar, summed up the mood. "We can now forget all about Saddam. We only think of Hussein. We all love him." Saddam, like earlier Iraqi, rulers was from the country's Sunni minority, although his rule was predominantly secular.
The attendance of Shi'ite clerics from throughout Iraq lent the pilgrimage political relevance. Some senior clerics have now returned from exile in the West or from Shi'ite-ruled Iran.
US-led forces ended the rule of the Saddam and now want to form an interim government with the stated aim of helping the Iraqis choose their leaders.
But Many Shi'ites are angered over what they see as US intervention, and about 2,000 Shi'ites staged an anti-American protest in Baghdad on Monday, saying US troops had arrested one of their leaders, Muhammad al-Fartusi.
In the city, the US military stayed out of the city centre but remained on the outskirts of town. Some Shi'ites hoped the thousands-strong pilgrimage procession would prevent them from being sidelined in Iraq yet again.