A mother with her children queuing for the Ferris wheel at the mawlid of Sidi Ibrahim al-Disuqi in Disoeq

Mawlids are a great time for children and youths. In the evening the streets are crowded by youths who can sometimes make life uncomfortable for women, but the afternoon and early evening are a family time. With their various colours and attractions, amusements, sweets and music, they are a rare occasion of excitement and colour in the often hard and dull life of a village or small town. For many Egyptians the mawlid of their home town is a strong childhood experience they remember with nostalgia and excitement even if they as grown-ups might have turned more to the spiritual aspects of the mawlid or stopped going to the festivities.

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Disuq, October MMII, small frame colour negative, scan from c-print
(c) Samuli Schielke