Traditions of the El Ghriba Festival

Isn't she cute! This blue-eyed babe is celebrating her first pilgrimage to the El Ghriba festival in Djerba, Tunisia. It's a noisy, crowded affair but an especially special place to be if your Jewish. Like the name El Ghriba which means 'the marvelous' or 'the strange' so too are the customs surrounding this festival.

On entering the synagogue (the oldest in Africa) I tossed off my shoes and covered my head. The Moorish building was crammed with pilgrims lighting candles, reading from the Torah and praying to the Grande Menara.

The Grand Menara looks like a giant candelabra but decorated with hundreds of multicolored silk scarves. It's tradition to ask favors of Ghriba like helping a single woman find her soul mate or a cure for cancer. Earlier it was paraded around town to music and hands clapping.

At the back of the sanctuary is an underground cave where visitors can crawl through and leave behind 1 or more raw eggs that have wishes written on them. Wishes include wanting to have a child or find a job or win the lottery. The eggs are left in the cave over night to be cooked by the heat from hundreds of candles. The egg is then given to the person whose name it bears.

This gent is wearing a small black band around his legs. It's a piece of clothing that shows that he's a direct descendant of cohanim or priests from the Temple of Jerusalem. That's over 2000 years of lineage starting from the destruction of the First Temple of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. Many people asked he pray for them and grant their blessings.

In the synagogue courtyard local traders sell traditional sweetmeats, refreshments, handicrafts and jewelry.