Members of Iraq's Sabean community, also known as Mandaeans, celebrate the Feast of Creation holiday by the banks of the Tigris River in the capital Baghdad. "The Feast of Creation is one of the most important holidays for the Mandaean Sabean community in Iraq and the world ... These rituals and this religious practise represent the continuity of the Mandaean religion in Iraq and the world," says the community's leader Qais Al-Madad. Sabeans practise one of the world's oldest surviving Gnostic religions and worship John the Baptist as their central prophet. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES