For the eleventh consecutive year, and under the patronage of the General Secretariat of the two holy shrines of Imam al-Hussayn and al-Abbas (peace be upon both of them), the annual Central Cultural Festival of the birth anniversary of Kareem [the generous of] Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them); Imam al-Hassan al-Mojtaba (peace be upon him), held by the people of Hilla city -The supreme body for the project of Hilla, city of Imam al-Hassan al-Mojtaba (peace be upon him)- under the slogan: "Imam al-Hassan (peace be upon him) the savior of Muslims and the detector of the hypocrites' falsehood", was launched on the evening of the 14th of the holy month of Ramadhan 1439H corresponding to May 30, 2018, in cooperation with the Directorate of the Shiite Waqf in the province, in order to revive and celebrate the auspicious birth anniversary of the beloved grandson of the Holy Prophet (Allah's prayers be upon him and upon his holy Household); Imam al-Hassan (peace be upon him).
The opening ceremony, which was held in the Gardens of the Mazar of the miracle of the Return of Sun to Imam Ali (peace be upon him) in the center of the city of Hilla, was attended by personalities and delegations representing many bodies, including clergy, academics, intellectuals, media and others, as well as a large gathering of the people of the city and delegations representing the holy shrines and sanctuaries.
After reciting verses from the Holy Quran and reciting Surah Al-Fatiha and standing in memory of the martyrs of Iraq, thanks to whom this festival was held. The attendees went to raise the flag of Imam al-Hassan (peace be upon him) to flutter in the sky of the Mazar.
This was followed by a speech of the people of Hilla delivered on their behalf by a member of the preparatory committee of the festival, Engineer Hassan Al-Hilli. Followed by the word of the two holy shrines of Imam al-Hussayn and al-Abbas (peace be upon both of them) delivered by the member of the Board of Directors of the al-Abbas's (p) holy shrine, Maitham Al-Zaidi.
The opening ceremony included several performances, including a play entitled "Performance of Victory" written and directed by Prof. Mohammed Hussein Habib of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Babylon, who was able to employ his art expertise in this work, which linked parts of sermons and words of Imam al-Hassan (peace be upon him) with the reality that Iraq is currently living and what it experienced during the battles to liberate its usurped land.
There was also a wonderful poem of the Bahraini poet Hussain al-Abed, about the fatwa of the supreme religious authority to defend Iraq and its sanctities. And another one about Imam al-Hassan (peace be upon him).
Then the International Band of Islamic Singing of the Imam al-Hussayn's (p) holy shrine performed some poetic chants followed by popular chants about the love of Imam al-Hassan (peace be upon him) by the Radood Hamid Twayrjawi.
At the end of the opening ceremony, the attendees went to the live drawing exhibition of the Anamel Hadhara group of the Hamza Youth Forum in Babylon Province.