Festivals and Celebrations

The Arab year is marked first by the two Eids. Eid al-Fitr closes Ramadan with morning prayer, new clothes, visits that run through the whole extended family and sweets prepared specifically for the day — kahk in Egypt, maamoul in the Levant, kleicha in Iraq. Eid al-Adha centres on the sacrifice and the division of meat, one third of which goes to those in need.

Ramadan itself is the longest celebration of the year. The fast is broken communally at sunset, streets and mosques stay busy until late, the fanous lanterns of Cairo and the mesaharati who wakes the neighbourhood before dawn belong to it, and tables are set for anyone passing.

Alongside the religious calendar sit the great social events: weddings that can last several days, with the henna night, the zaffa procession and its drums and horns, and the ardah and ayyalah sword dances of the Gulf performed in lines to poetry and drum.

Regional festivals fill the rest — date and rose harvests, camel and falcon competitions, the Amazigh new year, and the moussem gatherings of Morocco that combine pilgrimage, market and horse display.