Heron on the Nile
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  Eid El Fitr Sufi Night  

Omdurman Wad Nubbawi
Omdurman Wad Nubbawi
A short distance away, in the district of Wad Nubbawi, being the birthday of a founder of Sufi Islam, there was a great congregating of Sufis. It was late in the evening. The streets around the mosque were closed to traffic and filled with people.
Omdurman Wad Nubbawi
Omdurman Wad Nubbawi

Different groups were drumming and dancing, it reminded me of a local Remembrance Day parade with proud, disparate groups all keeping the same faith. Some were carrying flags, others whirling in the dust. Smartly dressed stewards carried bowls of lamb stew from the kitchen to assembled dignitaries inside the mosque and later to the poor.

Within the mosque wall, red carpet covered walkways between rows of white plastic garden chairs. The guests had been fed, and entertained with dancing and chanting, and now they were sitting through the Imam's speech, relayed to those with a poor view on a large video screen. A second large screen gave the enclosed "audience" a glimpse of the dusty, jostley scenes from the street outside.

Omdurman Wad Nubbawi
Omdurman Wad Nubbawi
Omdurman Wad Nubbawi
Omdurman Wad Nubbawi
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