Next: 8 Feb to 9 Mar 2027
Ramadan
Lanterns of coloured glass in Cairo, strings of lights between minarets, and the thin silver crescent that starts the month.
The colours of Ramadan
Ramadan is the month of fasting from dawn to sunset, and its colours come out at night. The month begins when the thin new crescent moon is seen. In Egypt its sign is the fanous, a lantern of tin and coloured glass, red, green, blue and yellow, carried by children and hung in streets and doorways; the custom is usually traced to Fatimid Cairo about a thousand years ago. Shop fronts and tents are draped in khayamiya, cotton printed or stitched with red, blue and white geometric patterns. In Turkey lights spelling out greetings are strung between the minarets of mosques. Green, the colour most linked with Islam, and gold appear on greeting cards, with deep night blue behind the crescent.
#F2A83BFanous amberLantern light through coloured glass.#B5202AKhayamiya redPatterned tent cloth of Cairo.#14213DNight blueThe evening sky when the fast is broken.#D9DDE3Crescent silverThe new moon that begins the month.#0B7A3EIslamic greenThe colour most associated with the faith.Values are fair approximations, not official shades.
Read about the colours
Also part of it, and being written: Silver (The crescent.).
Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Ramadan" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from family to family and place to place. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.