Ramadan Has Arrived!

Ramadan has arrived in Egypt as of Thursday and life is changing.

We left the apartment for a walk in the early afternoon and immediately noticed that the front door has been given a new coat of gold paint and the "trim," including the electrical box, had received a new coat of white.  There was only a moderate amount of gold and white spattered on the steps and sidewalk.

Later that night, we had our first glimpse of our fanous (lantern) in operation.

  

 

The first day of Ramadan is a holiday (Egypt has plenty of holidays.)  As we walked along the street we immediately noticed that the Mercedes repair shop was closed, the coffee shop was closed, the normally very busy Syrian sandwich shop was closed, the juice bar was shuttered, and traffic is sparse and marvelously calm. We could actually carry on a conversation without shouting.

  

 

 

We were surprised to find that our favorite bakery was closed, as many shops are open to sell food, especially sweet things, for the evening breakfast meal.  We continued on a short distance to the next bakery where another friend heads a very nice operation. There is no shortage of bakeries in our neighborhood.

There they were preparing special Ramadan treats.  These pancakes will be folded and filled with honey or jam and perhaps nuts, to be served as desert at the end of the evening breakfast.

  

Another special desert treat is kunafa which requires this dough being prepared with considerable flourish.