tazia

English

Etymology

From Arabic تَعْزِيَة (taʕziya, “consolation, mourning”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /taˈziːə/

Noun

tazia (plural tazias)

1. A representation of the tombs of Hasan and Hussain (the grandsons of Muhammad), carried in processions for various Islamic festivities.

   Synonym: taboot

   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘On the City Wall’, In Black and White, Folio Society, published 2005, page 437:

     Gilt and paper presentations of their tombs are borne with shouting and wailing, music, torches, and yells, through the principal thoroughfares of the City; which fakements are called tazias.

   • 1924, EM Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin, published 2005, page 107:

     ‘What is the use of all these reforms, and Conciliation Committees for Mohurram, and shall we cut the tazia short or shall we carry it another route, and Councils of Notables and official parties where the English sneer at our skins?’

2. A type of play commemorating the martyrdom of Hasan and Hussain.

Alternative forms

• tazeea (archaic)