'File 19/169 IV Bahrain reforms' [‎3r] (5/124)

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During the first ten days of the month of
Muharrcoa tke ohias in Bal-irain who constitute over
half of the population hold readings in their Matems
every evening. In Mnnamah there are about a dozen
large matems capable of holding several hundred men
A
and smaller matoms exist in every village. A maten
is a building which resembles a church hall in an
English village. It is partly a religious build
ing and is maintained by religious endov/ments but
it is used on secular occasions and eating and
smoking is pemitted inside it, Separate matems
exist for women and for children*
The matems are managed by one or more of the
leading men of the neighbourhood frequently by
members of the man who originally built and endowed
the mutom, Each matem has its own patrons who fre
quent it in the same way as members frequent a club.
There has always been, in Manamah, a certain amount
of rivalry between the matems. During the first
seven days of Muharram all the Shias congregate in
the matems at night listening to the preacher* who
usually succeed in stirring their audiences into a
state of great excitement and emotion^
On the eighth and ninth nights of Muharram the
men from each matem after the reading go out into
the town in procession, each matem having its own
procession. They carry banners, torches, effigies
and many hundreds of them beat their chests, others
flog themselves with chains and on the last night
they brandish the swords which they use on the tenth
in the day time procession wiien they cut their heads
open® Tne largest matem is the Persian matem which
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