Muslim ritual meets Swahili culture at Kenya’s unique annual maulidi festival

By Tom Mboya Olali, Associate Professor, Department of Kiswahili, University of Nairobi

Lamu is a historic Swahili port town on an island off the northern coast of Kenya. Each year it hosts the famous Lamu Maulidi Festival, a sacred Muslim celebration, planned this year for 17-18 September.

People come from across the world to attend because in Lamu, maulidi (also known as mawlid) is unique. It’s a blend of cultures, and of pilgrimage, ceremony and carnival.…

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~	Ansaru terror leaders’ arrest is a strategic change for Nigeria: what could happen next

~	Businesses have a moral responsibility to stand up to autocrats

~	What correctional officers think about harm-reduction services for incarcerated people with drug addictions

~	The 17th-century woman who wrote about surviving domestic abuse

~	Donald Trump’s second state visit to the UK: the pageantry, politics and pitfalls

~	Why have cancer survival rates stopped improving in the UK?

~	Israel’s strike on Qatar was a serious blow against diplomacy in the Middle East

~	Racism isn’t innate – here are five psychological stages that may lead to it

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