Time Zones: Dusk to Dawn in Cairo
Breaking the Fast With Family, Friends And Late-Night Fun
Sally Safaa el-Din, 21, right, enjoys an early morning out with friends in Cairo after she and family members broke the daily Ramadan fast with a meal at home after sunset.
(By Nora Younis For The Washington Post)
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Friday, October 5, 2007
CAIRO
The sun slipped behind the high-rises on Haram Street. Drivers hit their gas pedals and their car horns, alternately bullying and joking their way through lanes crowded with fellow Cairenes, all racing to reach home before sunset signaled the end of the day's fast during this holy month of Ramadan.
In one Haram Street apartment, Maii Younis placed pigeons in a skillet to brown, handling the birds carefully to keep their rice stuffing from bursting forth. Her daughter Sally, 21, circuited between kitchen and dining room, laying out the china, talking to her mother and guests, and using the kitchen phone to make plans to go out with friends after the family meal.
In Cairo and other cities all around the Middle East, authorities held torches to ancient cannons to signal, as has been done for centuries, that the sun had set -- and that Muslims who had fasted from dawn to dusk for Ramadan could now begin their evening meal, or iftar.
Sally and Maii switched on a bulky radio by the dining room table. State radio came on live from Cairo's 12th-century Citadel in the heart of the old city.
"Madfaaa al-iftaaaar!" an unseen commandant blared over the radio, announcing the cannon with a windup worthy of the Worldwide Wrestling Federation.
"Edrabbb!" he shouted, the order to fire. BOOM!
The family laughed, excited.
Sally abruptly turned serious. "We have to eat NOW," she said, cradling her empty stomach with both hands.
Normally a chaotic, congested city of 16 million people going about 16 million purposes, Cairo for a few moments moved to a single Ramadan rhythm.
Blue flames flickered and fell simultaneously on gas stoves across the city, as Cairo's wives and mothers warmed food for the iftar table. Cairo's streets were emptied of all but a few tardy travelers.
At intersections, do-gooders thrust packets of dates and cups of water toward those who hadn't been able to make it home in time.
