1000’s pack slim alleys in Cairo for Egypt’s mega-Iftar

Cairo — The slim streets and alleys of a working-class neighborhood in Egypt’s capital hosted hundreds of individuals Monday who got here collectively to interrupt their Ramadan quick on the longest dinner desk within the nation. It was the tenth time that northern Cairo’s Matareya neighborhood had hosted the annual Iftar meal on the fifteenth day of Ramadan, and it was the most important up to now.

Organizers stated some 400 volunteers helped to line up about 700 tables alongside a handful of linked, and ornately embellished, streets and alleys after which fill them with meals ready by group members. There was no official rely, however these behind the gathering claimed as many as 30,000 individuals had turned as much as break their quick after sunset.

Hamada Hassan, one of many organizers, advised CBS Information the story of the mass-Iftar began 12 years in the past on the fifteenth night time of Ramadan when some native residents determined to interrupt their quick collectively after taking part in soccer. Nobody had a home sufficiently big to host everybody, so every went house and acquired some meals. Then, they introduced two tables out onto the road and ate collectively.

Mates later complained they hadn’t obtained an invitation, Hassan stated, and the next yr, there have been about 10 tables linked to seat a rising crowd. The occasion saved increasing, with increasingly more tables added yr after yr, till it was dubbed the longest Iftar desk in Egypt.

The ritual was paused for 2 years in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, however it made a robust comeback in 2023, with celebrities, authorities officers and even diplomats becoming a member of the banquet.

The Monday night time gathering noticed the most important turnout up to now, and the slim previous streets and alleys had been packed. Some visitors advised CBS Information it was the primary time they’d been to Matareya.

Bassem Mahmoud, one other organizer, stated some 6,000 meals had been ready for the 2023 Iftar. This yr, he stated they made 10,000, they usually had been hoping to develop much more in 2025.

Mahmoud stated preparations for the Iftar began two months earlier than the dinner, together with shopping for and storing the whole lot from water, juice and decorations, to cleansing and portray the streets after which festooning them with Ramadan decorations.

Throughout Ramadan, tables of free meals are arrange in streets throughout Egypt for anybody to interrupt their quick. These choices are usually meant for these in want, which makes the Matareya Iftar distinctive, although the organizers stress that they’re sharing a meal with visitors, and everyone seems to be invited.

With balloons, recent paint on the neighborhood partitions and the streets echoing with lights and Ramadan music, the pleasant ambiance drew hundreds of individuals this yr, together with some who did not eat, however simply got here to benefit from the spectacle.

Some residents who selected to not enterprise out into the streets to take part had Iftar diners come to them as an alternative. Locals advised CBS Information that full strangers knocked on their doorways and requested to return as much as get pleasure from a greater view from their balconies, they usually had been welcomed.

In the course of the holy month, individuals usually nice one another with the phrase “Ramadan Kareem,” which is Arabic for “beneficiant Ramadan.” The month is historically a time to give attention to gathering, sharing and generosity, and the Matareya group confirmed that spirit on the fifteenth day of Ramadan.

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