Cairo: Hamdi Abbas, a government employee, used to observe the age-old tradition of buying new clothes for his children to celebrate Eid Al Fitr. He could not do the same this year due to high costs of living.

"We had to spend a lot on food during Ramadan," Abbas, a father of three, told Gulf News. "Besides, the fact that the new school year started three weeks into Ramadan added to our financial burdens."

He is one of millions of Egyptians who complain that price rises of almost every commodity make life harder for them and diminish the age-old joy associated with Eid.

In May, President Hosni Mubarak ordered a 30 per cent increase in the salaries of public sector employees. The pay rise was soon followed by increases in prices of fuel, which sent prices of goods and services even higher.

"I wished there would have been no pay rise and prices would have remained the same," said Abbas. "Any pay rise is always devoured by uncurbed price hikes."

Egyptians usually celebrate the three-day Eid Al Fitr with sweet cookies and biscuits, a tradition introduced into this predominantly Muslim country by the Fatimid rulers in the 10th Century. The Eid sweets are served to well-wishers and relatives. Price rises and runaway inflation have taken their toll on that tradition this year too. Their prices have gone up by 30 per cent compared to last year, according to market observers.

Improvising

"I cannot afford the prices of festive cookies, which sell for 30 Egyptian pounds (Dh20.2) per kilo this year," said Ihsan Mahmoud, a mother of four. "In order to preserve this tradition without which the joy of Eid is incomplete, I arranged with my neighbours to bake the cookies at home. This arrangement cut the cost to 10 pounds per kilo," Mahmoud, who lives in the Cairo working class area of Bab Al Sharia, said.

Shops selling these sweets, locally known as khak, blame rises in the price of ingredients, such as flour and butter, for the hikes in price of the items.

"Egyptians' celebration of Eid have been affected by economic hardships," Azza Koryam, a sociologist at the governmental National Centre for Social and Criminal Studies, told Gulf News.

"The sense of joy of Eid has changed. Relations between families have diminished due to life stresses. There is no family not feeling the pinch of economic problems," she added.

Around 40 per cent of Egypt's 80 million population live on less than two dollars a day, according to World Bank reports.