Photo : Alaazzpov — CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Cairo · Sayyida Zeinab
The Ramadan lanterns
The fanous market, a few weeks a year: cut tin, coloured glass, and a street that stays up.
In the weeks before Ramadan the workshops of Sayyida Zeinab bring their fanous out onto the pavement and Taht el-Rab' street turns into a wholesale market: soldered tin, coloured glass, a candle or a bulb inside, from pocket size to the lantern you hang off a balcony. The Ramadan lantern is a Cairene tradition traced back to Fatimid times, with origin stories that belong more to folklore than to the historical record. Two kinds of lantern now share the stall: tin-and-glass lanterns assembled by hand in the quarter, and Chinese plastic ones, battery-powered, that play a song. After dark, under the strings of lights, families come to pick the one the child will carry, and the price is argued over as it is anywhere.
The extra bit
Come at dusk, in the two or three weeks before Ramadan: the stalls are fully stocked, the lanterns are lit, and you can see what you are buying. Look at the soldering and the glass first, then bargain; the wholesalers will sell you a single piece.
Know before you go
Out of season there is nothing to see: the market only stands for a few weeks a year, and the rest of the time the street goes back to being a street of workshops. A tin-and-glass lantern travels badly — sharp edges, panels that come unstuck — so have it wrapped and count on carrying it by hand. Ramadan falls in winter these years, and one shower is enough to send the stalls under tarpaulins. Cash, thick crowds after dark, bag held in front of you.
