Apparently, the religious ceremonies alone that occur on Ashura are enough to cause some interest in this Islamic holiday. Not only do they flail themselves on the back, but they also have some ritual chest pounding. These ritual acts of self flagellation are called Matam. Here is a link to a Matam ritual that apparently occurred in New York in 2007. No blood here but interesting none-the-less.
Matam New York
Some more related info. Apparently a Shiite Cult Leader in Iraq was arrested on December 31st 2008 who planned extensive attacks on the Ashura this year. Excerpt below from
Yahoo News link. FYI - The 10th of Muharran this year is January 7th.
Dahham said police seized documents showing that the group planned to launch terrorist attacks in and around Karbala during Ashura. Karbala is home to the golden-domed mosques of Imam Hussein and his half-brother Imam Abbas, sons of the founding saint of the Shiite faith.
"The group has admitted during an investigation that they intended to carry out terrorist acts during Muharram days and particularly on the 10th of Muharram on Ashura," Dahham told The Associated Press. "They planned to carry out their acts against visitors in Karbala."