6 lines · 80 words · 0:27 read aloud
The Lantern That Means Ramadan
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In Cairo, one small light tells you Ramadan has arrived.
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It is called the fanous, a lantern of colored glass and metal.
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One popular story says crowds carried lanterns through the streets to welcome a ruler after dark, centuries ago.
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Nobody is completely sure it happened that way. But the lanterns stayed.
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Today children swing them in the evening, and shops hang them over the doors.
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So when the first fanous glows, you know the month has begun. Ramadan Mubarak.
