(31 Mar 2013)
Baghdad
1. Top shot of congregation during mass
2. Various of congregating during mass
3. Mid shot of priests at podium
4. Various of people during mass
5. Christian swinging incense pot
6. Various of newly appointed Patriarch Monsignor Louis Sako giving communion
7. People receiving communion
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Patriarch Monsignor Louis Sako:
"I hope that all Iraqi people should work for reconciliation and understanding through dialogue and not by being suspicious of each other, or through force and fighting."
9. Various of shopkeeper decorating cake in bakery
10. Easter chicks
11. Various of men decorating cakes
12. Wide interior of shop, man carrying cake
13. Various of customer standing in front of counter looking at cakes
14. Close up of cake
15. Cashier placing cake in box then receiving money from customer
Kirkuk
16. Various of Christian family seated
17. Cross hanging on wall with photo of the couple underneath
18. Mid of wife and her husband preparing baskets filled with coloured eggs
19. Close of basket filled with colourful eggs
20. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Riyadh Louis:
"One of the important rituals during Easter is to colour eggs. We celebrate this Easter."
21. Christian family preparing eggs for Easter
STORYLINE
Iraqi Catholics went to evening mass in Baghdad on Saturday night ahead of Easter Sunday.
At the St. Joseph Chaldean Church in Baghdad's Karradah district, worshippers sang and prayed at a mass led by Monsignor Louis Sako.
64-year-old Sako replaced retired Emmanuel III Delly earlier this month as the new patriarch of Iraq's Chaldean Catholic Church.
Also on Saturday evening some Christians bought cakes to celebrate Easter along with their families.
In Kirkuk, 290 kilometres (180 miles) north of Baghdad, a Christian family prepared eggs and other food to celebrate Easter.
Kirkuk is home to many Christians, who live alongside other Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen communities.
Since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, Christians have frequently been the target of attacks by Islamic extremists, forcing tens of thousands to flee.
Fewer than three percent of Iraq's 26 (m) million people are Christians. The majority of these are Chaldean-Assyrians and Armenians, with a small number of Roman Catholics.
The exact number of Christians left in Iraq is unclear but they are thought to number several hundred thousand.
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