Egyptians traditionally bake kahk (cookies) for Eid el-Fitr (the Lesser Bairam), something that dates back to Pharaonic times. The Pharaohs even put kahk in the tombs of the dead, ornamenting these biscuits with drawings of the sun, symbolic of god Ammon. Kahk is circular and look like the sun, expressing strength, life and goodness. This tradition of baking biscuits continued into the Coptic and Islamic eras. These biscuits and other pastries were particularly popular in the Fatimid era in Cairo. The Islamic Art Museum houses moulds for printing words of satisfaction on kahk; sometimes these biscuits were shaped like dolls. In the past, housewives would distribute kahk, covered sugar, to the poor people living in the cemeteries, when they went to visit the tombs of their dead. The Pharaonic year included many feasts, for example, marking the new year and the new seasons, as well as feasts associated with agriculture, including the harvest and the annual flooding of the Nile. There were other feasts associated with the King, such as his coronation. Of course, there were also religious and funereal feasts. Some feasts were for all Egyptians, while others were only celebrated regionally. There was a feast according to which Osiris died and then came back to life, symbolising the way plants die and then sprout up again in the following season
