Lamu Cultural Festival 2013

2013 Lamu Cultural Week. Unlike Maulidi, the annual ancient Swahili event celebrating birth of the Prophet Mohammed, Cultural Week is a tourist event celebrating of Lamu Old Town as a UNESCO World Heritage Site with more than 700 years of continuous settlement. And for better or worse that means no cars on the island. Organized […]

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Eid al Hajj celebration in Lamu, Kenya

Seems only fitting that an ancient Muslim tradition was celebrated today with  a race between ancient Arab fishing dhows. This part of Eid is less about fasting (Ramadan,  a word that reminds me of Papadam) than it is about the journey to Mecca in November. Who goes to Mecca anyway? A successful, middle-aged acquaintance, Hamid, […]

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