On the twenty seventh day of the holy month of Ramadan, Zeina Stinieh, a local in Tunisia’s south western city, Gafsa, wakes up early to prepare for a special night. She cleans her house well and then burns some special wood that she believes “expels devils and invites angels”.
On the twenty seventh day of the holy month of Ramadan, Zeina Stinieh, a local in Tunisia’s south western city, Gafsa, wakes up early to prepare for a special night. She cleans her house well and then burns some special wood that she believes “expels devils and invites angels”.
Like many people in the area she is doing something different this evening from many other Muslims in Tunisia. In Gafsa , the twenty-seventh night of the holy month of Ramadan is not celebrated in the same way as it is in other Muslim-majority areas. Usually the night is called Laylat al-Qadr – in English, this could be translated as Night of the Decree or the Night of Destiny – and in the Islamic faith, this lucky evening marks the time that the Prophet Mohammed received the first verses of the holy book, the Koran. However in Gafsa, this night is called the Night of the Dead and the holiday sees families visiting graves of loved ones, remembering those who have passed away and donating money to charity in honor of the dead.
Like many others here in Gafsa, Stinieh believes that tonight the dead visit the earth.
“Spirits do not leave us forever,” she explains. “They descend on this blessed night to meet their families. They are among us now and we must receive them well, welcome them, respect them and pray for them.”
Stinieh says one of the things she always does is prepare a couscous meal that she then distributes to the needy in the area.
Couscous dinner in honor of the dead
Local photographer Haytham Abedi says all the families here used to make similar meals that they could then give out, the charity being a way of honoring the dead.
“When we were children, we used to roam the streets calling out: ‘God rest the souls of those who died and provide to those who are alive’,” Abedi recalls. “We used to knock on doors to collect the tasty couscous dishes as well as sweets generously distributed by the families.”
On this evening Gafsa’s graveyards are also full, with visitors coming from all over the world to pay their respects to the deceased.
At Gafsa’s Sidi bin Yaqoub cemetery, human rights activist Amina Awadi can be found at one of the grave sites. She explains that she comes here every year and performs some rituals for her dead family members.
Not far from her is another girl who wanted to be known only as Fatima; she is sitting by her father’s grave, lighting candles and reading verses from the Koran. Her father passed away five years ago. “I feel that we reunite with the spirits of our forefathers on this blessed occasion,” Fatimah explains. “The people of Gafsa believe that the spirits of the dead return to their families today. Our longing for those who are absent leads us to their graves on this day, to connect with them, because we feel that the dead never really leave us.”