CAIRO - In the populous Cairo district of Ain Shams, Mina and his friends are accustomed to sitting together and designing colourful ornaments to celebrate the advent of the holy month of Ramadan during which Muslims observe fasting from dawn to sunset. Mina, a 12-year old Coptic boy, lives in a narrow alley in the northern Cairodistrict, where his neighbours are Muslims and Christians, a mixture of beliefs that quintessentially underlines old-age Egyptian culture. Mina's parents used to buy him every year Fanous Ramadan, a festive lantern associated with the holy month to play with it along with his Muslim peers. In a special gesture for this year's Ramadan, Mina has decided to create the ornaments and offer them as a gift to his Muslim friends. "I used every year to see my Muslim friend Fatma working on Ramadan ornaments. I used to help her hang them in the street. This year I have been keen to design them myself," Mina said. The ornaments are made of recycled paper and plastic bags. They are cut and pasted in decorative ways. They take attractive shapes of lanterns, crescents and mosques. These decorations are threaded together and then festooned across the streets, giving Ramadan in Egypt a unique aspect. "Usually, residents of the street eagerly await us to hang the ornaments. They show up in balconies, with everyone liking to have the ornaments hung close to his balcony," explained Mina. In a nearby shop, its old owner Amm Sayyed, looks busy decorating his store with Ramadan-themed ornaments. But they look different this year. "Ramadan has a unique flavour this year. We are not only celebrating Ramadan, but also celebrating our freedom," said Amm Sayyed, as his decorative shapes appear like the Egyptian flag. "The people are interested in buying such ornaments because they are proud of what we did on June 30 and want to show their joy by hanging the Egyptian flag and its shapes in the streets," he added. Millions of Egyptians rallied to the streets on June 30, demanding Islamist president Mohamed Morsi step down, prompting the army to unseat him one year after he took office. A group of activists have launched a Facebook campaign, calling on the people to decorate the streets with the national flag as part of celebrating the month of Ramadan. "The idea of the campaign is that we want to present Egypt as a beautiful bride, who starts a new era in its great history," said Omnia el- Arki, one of the campaigners. Omnia and her friend Neveen Tareq said they had launched the drive "to do something positive for our country". "We want to see our country as a bride. We also want to engage all Egyptians from different ages and backgrounds in sharing this joy. People themselves make the ornaments and decorate their streets with them," Omnia added. She proposed to residents of every street to use old cloth and coloured papers in making their own decorations. "The Egyptian flag should be hoisted in every street." For their part, Morsi's supporters, camping out around the Rabaa el-Adawiya Mosque in eastern Cairo for more than a week now, celebrate the beginning of Ramadan by decorating the nearby streets with festive ornaments, an indication that they plan to continue their protest until Morsi is reinstated.
