Kodak Agfa presents: El-Mawlid bazaar 2024 at Cairo’s El-Sayeda Zeinab in photos and videos

I should have posted weeks ago, but I could not with the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the war on Lebanon by Israel.

It is never too late though. Tonight is actually the Mawlid of Imam El-Hussein so it is a suitable night to share those photos.

God knows when I took the camera and went to El-Sayeda Zeinab to see how the Mawlid El-Nabawi annual bazaar. 

It was an attempt to break the cycle of depressing news.

Yes, it is the same street that I go to every year.

It helped a bit.

It was a good temporary escape so here are the photos and videos from one of Cairo’s biggest Mawlid Al-Nabawi sweets bazaar.

Mawlid Al-Nabawi is the anniversary of Prophet Mohamed's “PBUH” birthday.

It is observed on the 12th day of the third month of the Islamic calendar, Rabi'i Al-Awal. 

This year it was celebrated on 16 September. “Yes, I know for more than a month”.I went there in the evening, which was noticeably more crowded than in the morning.

Since it was a weekday, finding more people doing Moulid shopping after work was natural. “I use Moulid because it’s the term we use in Egypt.”

Although it was crowded, it wasn’t as busy as in previous years. The impact of the economic crisis and high inflation was evident in various ways throughout the bazaar.

This year’s Moulid took place a week before schools resumed in Egypt, which meant some families prioritized spending on school supplies.

As a result, the El-Sayeda Zeinab bazaar became an economical solution for Moulid shopping.

Many people opted to visit the El-Sayeda Zeinab bazaar to buy Moulid sweets at lower prices than in shops and patisserie chains.

My favourite stand in the bazaar, the famous “Um Essam,” sold one kilo of Moulid sweets for LE 65, while other stands offered cheaper options at LE 55 and LE 45 per kilo, depending on the contents.

On the other hand, one kilo of sweets with nuts was priced at LE 225 in the state-run consumer complexes.

In patisserie shops, the average price for a small-sized Moulid sweets box ranged from LE 275 to 950, depending on the weight.

Upscale patisseries sold Moulid sweet boxes starting at LE 1,200 and going up to 2,600, depending on the weight and selection of items within each box.

Additionally, shops like the renowned El-Abd Patisserie offered customers the option to buy individual items separately from the boxes.

This has existed in the El-Sayeda Moulid bazaar for a long time.

In September 2024, the monthly urban headline inflation (food included) reached 2.1%, compared to 2.0% in September 2023 and 2.1% in August 2024, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

Egypt’s annual headline inflation increased in September to 26%, up from 25.6% in August, while the monthly headline inflation jumped to 2.3%, up from 1.9% in August.

This shows why El-Sayeda Zeinab attracts more middle- and working-class customers in Cairo than patisserie shops.

There were all types of traditional Moulid sweets you can imagine “except those coated in chocolate that are sold in upscale patisserie chains” including those sweets which I totally do not know their names.

The enemy of Egyptian dentists aka Hummusya was sold and I can assure you that it was a best-selling there.

Hummusya is a Moulid sweet made of dried Hummus powder and it can break your teeth.

To the Moulid dollies.

Prices for plastic Moulid dollies range from LE 75 to 300, depending on size.

The larger Moulid dollies, encased in wooden frames, are priced at around LE 350.

These framed Moulid dollies remind me of the portable Buddha shrines often found in Asian homes. I wonder how we came to adopt this design.

All those dollies are Egyptian handmade.

At some stands, I noticed plastic cars for boys, which seem to have replaced the traditional knights.

Plush toys were also available, though they don’t seem to attract children or adults as much as the dollies do.

A little remark was that I found fewer Moulid house decorations, unlike the previous years.

 Still, I like those wooden horses and dollies.

 I found the handmade sugar dollies and knights at the same stand I stumbled upon last year but they were covered as if they were hiding.

The vendor wasn’t present so he covered them entrusting the stand’s care to nearby vendors.

I could not know the prices of the sugar dollies and knights this year as the vendor was not there. But I read online that the prices started from LE 25 and it goes up with the size.

The prices did not jump I believe compared to last year despite the economic crisis, the repeating sugar crisis and the ongoing inflation.

Last year, I discussed the origins of the Mawlid dolls and knights in Egypt.

The biggest discovery I made this year was knowing that those makeshift stands to sell the Moulid dollies and sweets are actually the same makeshift stands or stalls Egyptians used to set up more than 100 years ago.

I found photos of celebrations of Moulid El-Nabawy from more than 100 years ago in Cairo. Amazingly, the same setting is used till now for selling sweets and dollies.

These two photos were taken in the Helwan suburb circa 1908.

This one was taken in Cairo’s Al-Abbasiya in 1910.

Watch this quick Instagram reel video from the bazaar and tell me what is the difference.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Zeinobia (@zeinobia)

Even the fabric used for the makeshift stands hasn’t changed.

It’s the same red Khayamiya cloth, known for its iconic Egyptian patterns.

Needless to say, many things change over time.

We have bigger stands now, plastic dollies and even types of Moulid sweets.

That’s it for this year’s Mawild Bazaar or Moulid market. Happy Moulid or Happy Mawlid.

Till next year inshallah Gaza and Lebanon will celebrate the Moulid as they should have this year and hopefully, I will visit Bab El-Bahr.