A Shah resplendent in gold finery, sunglasses and a red tie, flanked by two minions of the evil Umayyad Caliph Yazid and surrounded by representatives of the British Intelligence Service, presides on a float in the main square of Zarch, a village in central Iran. Local superstitions and caustic political commentary interlace with the original myth of Ashura in the Tazieh productions of smaller, less Westernized towns, 2008. (Iason Athanasiadis/GlobalPost)