رمضان كريم

Yes, Ramadan kareem once again as we celebrate two weeks of Ramadan tomorrow and around 2 weeks and a day or two more to go. The moon is full and bright tonight, and at the moment (9.00 pm) still a very warm 32 degrees outside. The airconditioners in here in the hall are struggling to make it comfortable after another hot day. Being single brick, albeit covered with lots of plaster and a different coloured external facing, the walls really hold the heat for quite a while. I can’t seem to get enough liquid into me tonight and I’m very thankful for the perpetual ice-maker in the fridge.

When we were coming home one evening just before Ramadan, I saw a shop that had been converted to a lantern shop. It was totally decked out with magnificent coloured lanterns, or fanoos, of every shape and size, some plain colours and some with elaborate patterns. As you drive around you can see these lanterns hanging on balconies and in windows.

And since Ramadan is considered to be the most joyful month of the whole year, children also have their share of fun. A fawanees (said fanoos, so that’s how I’ll print it from now on, fanoos for one, fanooseen for plural) is a must for many kids. These are traditionally made of tin and coloured glass, with a candle inside. More modern examples are battery operated or plug into mains electricity. All mosques and streets during the whole month are full of colored lights in a festival fashion. Apparently in the past, children played in the streets with their lanterns, singing "wahawy ya wahawy" – metaphorically meaning the light of fire. This tradition is still practiced, though rarely now in the streets, except in middle class or poor neighborhoods, and in the countryside. I haven’t seen any around this area with kids, although there are coloured lights on some buildings and lanterns at the entrances.

So I’ve done some research about this colourful custom and thanks to Tour Egypt I can tell you a bit more about them.

Lanterns and lamps of various kinds, hues and degrees of brightness, have always been special to the Egyptians. Many stories of their origins have been told. One story has it that the Fatimid Caliph Al Hakim Bi-Amr Illah wanted to light the streets of Cairo during Ramadan nights, so he ordered all the sheikhs of mosques to hang fawanees that could be illuminated by candles. As a result, the fanoos became a custom that has never been abandoned.

Another story states that, during the time of the Caliph Al Hakim Bi-Amr Illah, women were not allowed to leave their houses except during Ramadan, but even then they had to be preceded by a little boy carrying a copper fanoos. The fanoos was then used to announce the arrival of a woman and to caution men in the street to move away. As the laws against women softened, women were allowed to go out as they wished but people liked the idea of the fanoos, and so it became a tradition that little children carry them in the streets everyday to play.

A third story relates that the lanterns came from a completely different religion. Some believe that the use of lanterns was originally a Coptic Christian tradition celebrated during Christmas time (Coptic version), when people used to celebrate with colourful candles. This story says that, as many Christians converted to Islam, they took this tradition with them in the form of lanterns made of tin and lit with candles.

Regardless of the truth of these stories, the fanoos remains a very unique symbol of Ramadan to Muslims and Christians alike. It has passed from generation to generation, and is today explicitly associated with children. Its popular image is children playing out in the streets during Ramadan, happily swinging their fanooseen and singing a rhyme in colloquial Egyptian Arabic.

During the few days before Ramadan arrives, children become excited and are more insistent about having a fanoos. In fact, most of them can hardly wait to start swinging and singing. That’s why, exactly one week before Ramadan, some Egyptian streets are transformed into workshops for tinsmiths to produce as many fanooseen as possible.
The fanooseen makers are usually very humble people. They; as many other craftsmen in Egypt; work in small areas, in any corner, in alcoves or just simply under corrugated iron shelters, to produce the tens of thousands of fanooseen needed to meet the demand during Ramadan. Actually the fanooseen makers usually start between six to nine months before Ramadan depending on the market forecasts.

In these days of globalization it appears that the Chinese have also made inroads into the fanooseen market, producing plastic lanterns that also play popular songs. While it was initially thought that these might destroy the local trade, reports say that the traditional fanoos is still sought after and the old tradition appreciated.

Another popular decoration is like alfoil cut into a deep fringe and strung like streamers. You see this in silver and sometimes in gold strung across streets and from house to house. Usually it stays in place until the weather brings it down, so you see it for quite some time afterwards. I’m sure there’s still some up since last Ramadan.

I haven’t much other news; again I have been basically in the house except for the supermarket trip and a look around one of the newer housing estates (very nice). We had a problem with one of the Coasters this week – it was parked in the parking lot where it is kept overnight and some small boys got into a Hiace that was parked nearby and started it up and drove it into the front of our Coaster. It’s still in the panel shop but hopefully will be finished tomorrow. So that has been taking most of Mohamed’s time, both day and night. No-one has any insurance of course and at least the child “driving” wasn’t hurt.

Anyway, it’s about 3.00 am and time for the final meal and off to bed. Mind you I’m not tired, didn’t wake up until 2.30 pm today!!! Mind you it was almost 5.00 am when I went to sleep.

So, from hot and sunny Cairo I bid you Ramadan kareem until next time

Lots of love

Lyndall

PS Judy – my very favourite cotton nightdress is getting a very good workout over here – it’s perfect!