ALGIERS: North Africans say they are missing the taste of Ramadan, as coronavirus restrictions deprive them of traditional mealtime gatherings, evening outings and beloved sweets during the Muslim holy month.
“It’s not the usual Ramadan,” said one woman shopping in Ariana, near the capital Tunis, looking desperately for the cakes and sweets that normally fill the stalls during the fasting month.
Ramadan is traditionally a time for worship and socializing.
The faithful refrain from consuming food and water during the day, breaking their fast at dusk with family and friends for a meal known as iftar, and often going out afterwards.
But this year, social distancing measures have largely put a stop to the usual Ramadan traditions.
Mosques in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia have been closed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, preventing special evening prayers.
There are no long nights of musical gatherings, and in the medina of Tunis, there are no Sufi-inspired “hadra” chants and no “stambali” — a mystical trance dance ritual.
The old cities of Rabat, Casablanca and Tunis, normally crowded after iftar, are like ghost towns.
“Even the meals that bring all the family together around the same table are impossible — I’m afraid for my parents, who are elderly and sick,” said Maissa, a 46-year-old teacher from Algiers.
“The coronavirus has taken all the flavour out of the holy month this year,” said the mother-of-four.
In Morocco, dates — a Ramadan staple — and sweets are still available at the markets or in supermarkets.
“But I can’t travel to have iftar at my parents’ place” due to the night-time curfew, lamented one 35-year-old teacher who lives alone in Marrakesh.
“No cafes, no people in the mosques... it’s unprecedented,” he said.
In Algeria, after businesses were allowed to reopen at the start of Ramadan in April, crowding led authorities to reimpose closures in some areas.
Some in the capital Algiers traveled to Boufarik — around 30 kilometers (18 miles) away in Blida province, the epicenter of the country’s virus outbreak in early March — for a sugary sweet known as zlabia.
One man, Salem, said that in 30 years he had never failed to have zlabia from Boufarik on the table for Ramadan, but this year he came back empty-handed.
“Most of the stalls are closed and those that are open are crowded, so I turned back,” the 51-year-old said.
Authorities in Algeria have even prohibited community restaurants and soup kitchens where volunteers serve meals to the poor during the holy month.
Fekhreddine Zerrouki said his charity organization had planned to serve more than 1,500 meals a day, but was doing deliveries instead.
Samir, a volunteer with the Algerian Red Crescent, said the number of people benefiting from such Ramadan charity initiatives was “very low compared to the number of people in need.”
“We are missing the taste of Ramadan because of the lack of zlabia or the lost evenings, but some people don’t even have dates for breaking their fast,” he said.
Coronavirus ‘takes flavor out of Ramadan’ in North Africa
https://arab.news/rwuaj
Coronavirus ‘takes flavor out of Ramadan’ in North Africa
- Social distancing measures have largely put a stop to the usual Ramadan traditions
- Old cities normally crowded after iftar are like ghost towns
Hafez Galley’s exhibition pays tribute to two Egyptian artists who shaped a visual era
- Artworks by Attyat Sayed and El Dessouki Fahmi will be on display until Feb. 28
JEDDAH: Hafez Gallery in Jeddah has opened an exhibition showcasing the works of influential Egyptian artists Attyat Sayed and El Dessouki Fahmi. The exhibition runs until Feb. 28.
Kenza Zouari, international art fairs manager at the gallery, said the exhibition offers important context for Saudi audiences who are becoming increasingly engaged with Arab art histories.
“Attyat Sayed and El Dessouki Fahmi’s decades-long practice in Cairo established foundational models for how artists across the region approach archives, press, and ultimately collective memory,” Zouari told Arab News.
Both artists emerged in an era when newspapers and magazines played a central role in shaping Egypt’s visual culture. Their early work in press illustration “demanded speed, clarity, the ability to distill complex realities into a single, charged image,” the gallery’s website states.
Seeing the works of both artists side-by-side is breathtaking. It’s fascinating to witness how press illustration shaped such profound and lasting artistic voices.
Lina Al-Mutairi, Local art enthusias
Heba El-Moaz, director of artist liaison at Hafez Gallery, said that this is the second time that the exhibition — a posthumous tribute to the artists —has been shown, following its debut in Cairo.
“By placing their works side by side, it highlights how press illustration, often considered ephemeral, became a formative ground for artistic depth, narrative power, and lasting influence, while revealing two distinct yet deeply interconnected artistic paths within modern Egyptian visual culture,” she told Arab News.
Sayed’s work evolved from black-and-white illustration into “layered, dynamic compositions that translate lived emotion into physical gesture, echoing an ongoing negotiation between the inner world and its outward form,” the website states. Viewed together, the works of Sayed and Fahmi “reveal two distinct yet deeply interconnected artistic paths that contributed significantly to modern Egyptian visual culture.”
The exhibition “invites visitors into a compelling dialogue between instinct and intellect, emotion and structure, spontaneity and reflection; highlighting how artistic rigor, cultural memory, and sustained creative exploration were transformed into enduring visual languages that continue to resonate beyond their time,” the gallery states.
Lina Al-Mutairi, a Jeddah-based art enthusiast, said: “Seeing the works of both artists side-by-side is breathtaking. It’s fascinating to witness how press illustration shaped such profound and lasting artistic voices. The exhibition really brings their vision and influence to life.”
