4.2. The Oppression of Daily Life
The second major complex of meaning associated with heart distress includes sadness and grieving, worry about the general conditions of life, and inter personal conflict (see Figure 3). Both men and women attribute their heart distress to these causes.
Heart distress - grieving - loss - Moharram - old age: Heart distress is often said to be caused by sadness and grieving (qus o qam), by general feelings of melancholy, or by a specific loss or death. Excessive mourning, whether for a personal loss or as part of Moharram rit uals, is dangerous to the heart.
The grieving complex and the sense of sadness is one which resonates deeply in Iranian culture. The central Shi'ite ritual during Moharram reenacts the martydom of Imam Hossein, beloved grandson of the Prophet, and his 72 followers on the dusty plain of Kerbala. The rites are structured specifically to make all participants and observers weep, teaching the true meaning of qus and qam. The twelve-day ritual portrays a long series of grief-filled partings, as one by one the family and followers of Imam Hossein bid farewell and go off to their martyrdom. The small nephews, the children, and finally the brother of Imam Hossein bid farewell to their mothers, sisters and kin, tear themselves away and go to the battle. At the center of the drama stands Imam Hossein, "the lonely stranger of the place of disaster", "the one enmeshed in the pain and sadness