JEDDAH, 6 December 2002 — The squares and streets of downtown Jeddah were thronged with an international mix of people celebrating the beginning of Eid Al-Fitr Wednesday night. In the narrow streets and byways of Balad, every level surface became a shop counter.
Colorfully dressed women offered wares that varied from lengths of brightly patterned cotton to tubs of honey. Exotic perfumes and spices, redolent with eastern richness, suffused the evening air, mingling with the shouts of the vendors extolling their quality and perfection.
Mariam Dramell, from Senegal, told Arab News, “I come here every year for ten days during Eid.”
Sultan Ali, a Bangladeshi resident of Jeddah, said, “I have been living in Balad for nine months and this is the first time I have seen this many people here.”
Small oases of stillness dotted the milling crowds. Sometimes, this was where a small child might be curled up asleep, blissfully unaware of the whole proceedings, while her mother sat patiently waiting for business.
Others surrounded the immobile figures of old women, faces showing the ravages of a harsh life and with limbs distorted or missing, silently waiting for a charitable contribution from the passing public, or guarding a few plastic baubles in the hope of some trade.
Amid the richness and sadness, the light and shadow, Eid is with us again.
