Eid Mubarek!

Today in Algiers is the beginning of Eid al-Fitr, the 3-day holiday that marks the end of the month of Ramadan. The timing of the holiday depends on the sighting of the moon, and as a result, it varies around the world. The whole city has been bustling over the past few days buying foodstuffs, gifts and decorations for the holiday. Today, the streets are silent; the stores, closed. Yesterday, at the height of the pre-holiday rush (similar to that before Christmas, it is said), a few friends from the Glycines and I went to the Kasbah, or the old city. Built in the Ottoman era in the mid-1700s, the Kasbah is a maze of narrow roads and pathways underneath tall stone buildings built one on top of the other. The Kasbah is extremely overcrowded and perched on the hillside next to the sea. In this sense, it is mildly reminiscent of a Rio favela. But, unlike most favelas in Brasil, the structures are centuries old, four stories high and growing up rather than out. Here are a couple of pictures from the rooftop of one building, the home of many, many families. In the first, you can see the historically “harem” (off-limits, protected) interior courtyard characteristic of Ottoman architecture, where women are thought to have stayed. Today this is not the case. Many Algerian women do wear the hijab (head scarf) when they leave the house, but their scarfs tend to be markers of the latest fashions, depending on their prints and labels, rather than an indication of static traditions. In the second photo, taken from the same spot, you can see the rooftops of neighboring buildings and the sea in the background.