FirstLook: Ramadan’s Lanterns

In the March/April 1992 issue, writer and photographer John Feeney took AramcoWorld readers on a walk through the streets of Cairo during Ramadan. There, they were illuminated with the cover story and tradition of “Ramadan’s Lanterns.” Feeney, a longtime contributor with close to 100 credit lines in AramcoWorld, spent more than 30 years in Egypt, sharing stories and educating readers across the globe.

Ramadan, the ninth month of the Hijri lunar calendar, marks a time for fasting, blessings and prayers. Muslims give thanks to God during this holy month, and within Arab countries, one can find lanterns and other decorations adorning homes throughout. Merchants in larger cities even get in on the festivities, bedecking storefronts with these Ramadan lanterns, or fawanees as they’re called in Arabic. 

“One week before Ramadan begins,” writes Feeney in his 1992 story, “part of Ahmad Maher Street, for most of the year a humble thoroughfare in the old medieval quarter of Cairo, is transformed. Usually home to tinsmiths, marble-cutters and makers of mousetraps, for one glorious month it becomes ’The Street of the Lanterns.’”

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