Eid in Senegal: Pictures of Dakar's Korité fashion
- Published
The Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. In the Muslim-majority country of Senegal, both men and women often get new clothes especially made for the occasion, known locally as Korité. Photojournalist Ricci Shryock took these pictures of the style on show in Dakar.
Twenty-two-year-old Rokhaya works at a restaurant. Here she is waiting for a bus in the capital city Dakar in her new Korité outfit.
After morning prayers at the mosque, many families grill meat at home for a huge afternoon feast. As the sun sets, both children and adults walk around their neighbourhood greeting each other while showing off their new finery.
Boubacar Diallo, 23, is a businessman in the food industry. He enjoys the annual tradition in Senegal of having a new boubou, or long robe made to celebrate Korité. This boubou is made from "bazin" material and took a local tailor two weeks to cut and embroider.
Khady Diouf (left) is a house cleaner and says it was important to get a new dress for Korité to impress her husband.
Aissatou Cissé (centre) has three children and spent the day making food for family and friends. In the evening she was able to relax and sit outside in her new outfit, watching the neighbourhood go by.
Taxi driver Fallou Sene, 44, gets a new boubou every year and this time spent 45,000 CFA francs ($85; £60).
"We celebrate the end of Ramadan, but we do not want it to end. We want it to last three or four more months," he says. This year he prayed for Covid-19 to stop spreading, and for no other illnesses to appear.
"Right now it's hard to celebrate with your family, so it's important to make a nice new boubou for the party," says Dienaba Baldé.
The 24-year-old philosophy student says her favourite thinker is Socrates.
Mamadou Diokhame, 60, is a sound technician at a local television station. He pairs this boubou that he's owned for about three years with what he calls a "Hausa hat" from Niger, bought recently from Dakar's "large Nigerien community".
Mamadou also carries prayer beads after his visit to the mosque.
After the morning prayers in Dakar, 10-year-old Thierno Mohamad Sanogo (left) poses next to accountant Adama Traoré and his son Papa, plus 23-year-old Yoro.
"It's a time to have fun," Adama says. "And to think of God," adds Thierno.
A woman helps Adja Assisi adjust her headscarf. Adja, who is in her 60s and has three children, greeted people walking in and out of the prayer area of the mosque in Dakar's Pointe E neighbourhood.
Nineteen-year-old student Same Ama Faye, modelling his new "grand boubou" here, says he is excited to celebrate the end of Ramadan after fasting for a month.
And 27-year-old Ami Badji also wears a brand new outfit for Korité - hers in pale blue.
All images subject to copyright.
Related topics
- Published14 May 2021
- Published9 July