Lantern tradition keeps the home fires burning
Handmade Ramadan lamps still in demand despite competition
Perhaps lantern-makers will decrease in numbers because it’s a family-inherited craft and strangers don’t usually learn it.” Hussein Sayyid, 42, who has been making the traditional lanterns in his family’s Cairo workshop since he was 4 years old. The lamps, known as “fanoos”, are popular during Ramadan
CAIRO — “Traditional handmade lanterns will never lose their appeal in Egypt during the month of Ramadan,” said 42-year-old lantern maker Hussein Sayyid on Wednesday from his workshop in Cairo’s al-Qalaa neighborhood.
Sayyid has made the lanterns since he was 4 and his family inherited the business from their fathers and grandfathers.
He learned the craft from his 58-year-old brother Ali, who was taught by their father.
“Perhaps lantern-makers will decrease in numbers because it’s a family-inherited craft and strangers don’t usually learn it,” said Sayyid, whose children work with him at his shop.
Located inside an old building in a street full of workshops in al-Qalaa, which means “the Citadel” in Arabic, referring to Cairo’s Saladin Citadel, Sayyid’s workshop produces colorful handmade glass and metal lanterns of different sizes, known in Arabic as “fanoos”, displayed on stands outside the workshop.
The room with its eroded, unpainted walls contains a main counter with a fire in the center which Sayyid uses to fashion and weld the fanoos.
The main materials used in making the lanterns are glass and tin.
“Some regular customers come here every year to buy a fanoos, which is why they are on display for sale outside the workshop.
“However, some store owners buy large quantities and sell them,” he said, adding that “the fanoos is still as popular as ever and it will remain popular despite the competition from imported toylike lanterns.”
Egypt has suffered an economic recession that has been rife with political turmoil and security issues, leading the country to adopt strict austerity measures.
The reforms, supported by a $12 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, led to unprecedented inflation and caused price hikes of almost every commodity in Egypt.
“Price increases greatly affected the fanoos market, more than doubling its price. A parent of three children who used to buy them three small fawanees (plural for fanoos in Arabic) for 60 pounds ($3.50) now has to pay 150 pounds. This medium-sized one used to be sold for 30 pounds and now it costs 70 pounds, definitely affecting sales,” Sayyid said.
Sayyid has three children whose ages range from 2 to 9, and he plans to pass the craft to them as his forefathers did with him.
“They love to come and watch me fashion a fanoos. It’s a pleasurable experience for them. They help me in the work and also sell to customers and to their peers,” said Sayyid, pointing to his eldest son Youssef, 9, and his daughter Fatma, 7, whom he nicknames Batta (duck in Arabic).
“I am in fourth grade now and I have been working with my father for the last four years. I use a twisting tool to fashion the tin-plate and my sister makes the fanoos dome. We stay clear away from fire and welding,” said Youseff.
As for his sister, she said that she loves making the lanterns and that she has been working with her father since she was 4.
“My father gifts me with a nice fanoos every Ramadan and he pays me five pounds for every working day,” she said.