Over the last few days, the sense of exuberance among the Iraqi Shia has been palpable.

Under Saddam Hussein, many of their public symbols and rituals were banned.

Now long pent-up feelings and long-suppressed political views are tumbling out into the open.

Comprising some 60% of all Iraqis but long ruled by a Sunni elite, the Shia have long felt themselves to be an underclass.
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Najaf is still trying to recover from the violent events of 10 April, when a prominent cleric, Abdel-Majid al-Khoei, who had recently returned from exile in London, was killed in circumstances which are still far from clear.

Among the activists, three main trends are apparent:
The Daawa party
Sciri
The Sadr group

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Founded in the 1950s, the Daawa party is the oldest of the Shia Islamist movements.

After a series of attempts to assassinate Saddam Hussein and some of his ministers, it was harshly suppressed and eventually split into several factions.
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Sciri

The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq is a Tehran-based group, founded in 1982 and headed by Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim.

The ayatollah's brother, Abdel-Aziz, has also recently returned from exile, as Sciri seeks to build up a bigger grass-roots following.

Sciri, like Daawa, boycotted last week's meeting of anti-Saddam Iraqis, organised by the Americans in a big air-conditioned tent near the southern town of Nasiriya.
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The Sadr group

This group represents a radical, home-grown trend which some see as a force to be reckoned with. It is named after a popular religious figure, Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, who was assassinated - apparently by agents of the Saddam regime - in 1999.

The group is now led by the ayatollah's 30-year-old son, Muqtada al-Sadr.

It has a following in Najaf, where some people have implicated it in the killing of Abdel-Majid al-Khoei - a charge it strongly denies.

It is also popular in Baghdad's Shia suburbs, the biggest of which, Saddam City, has now been renamed "Sadr City".
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Some Iraqis from the country's Sunni and Christian minorities are uneasy about the new mood of Shia resurgence.

They fear that, in the new climate, the Shia will demand not just an end to their oppression but a dominant role in the new order.
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Most Iraqis are indeed united by allegiance to a common faith - and by shared suffering under Saddam's rule.

Intermarriage between Sunni and Shia is commonplace. Both communities share a sense of national pride.

A crucial issue is whether the Shia, or a significant number of them, will press for Iraq's transformation into an Islamic state.

Most Iraqis, and many Shia, seem to favour the separation of religion and state.

But if the Americans mishandle the post-war transition, this could radicalise the Shia and foment unrest - with potentially damaging consequences for both Iraq and the region.

» BBC NEWS | Middle East | Analysis: Shia's role in new Iraq