A few days before Eid, the market in the Ain al-Hilweh camp looked like any ordinary day. Rows of crowded shops, vegetable carts, vendors’ voices, and people moving quickly to finish their daily errands. But as Eid approaches, the place gradually begins to change. Some of the stalls disappear, replaced by small metal rides and swings stretching along the market, alongside stands selling lupini beans, fried potatoes, sweets, and toys.
Even the vegetable carts themselves change during the days of Eid. The cart that once sold tomatoes and cucumbers transforms into a stand for lupini beans, candy, and children’s toys — a scene that repeats every year inside the camp throughout the holiday.
In Ain al-Hilweh, there are no large spaces dedicated to play. So every Eid, the market becomes an open space for children and families, an old tradition that camp residents continue to preserve despite wars and economic crises. The stall owners themselves take part in this transformation, removing some of their goods and replacing them with games and swings, while folklore songs fill the streets.
Abu Yazan, one of the camp’s residents, stands today behind an accessories stand inside the market. “I used to bring my children here,” he says. He pauses for a moment, then adds: “Now they’ve grown up… but the market is still the same.”
At the heart of the scene stands Ahmad al-Nasr with his young daughter, he says that the Eid atmosphere inside the camp “helps children forget, even for a little bit, the hardships of life.” His daughter adds: “It’s good that we have the Ain al-Hilweh market. Here we can play during Eid and never get bored.”
One mother says that Eid this year “is not easy,” but that children “need to feel that life is still normal.” She adds: “Even if the situation is difficult, we try to make them happy in any way we can.”
Despite the simplicity of the scene, this transformation carries deep meaning for the camp’s residents. The market, usually a place for buying and selling, becomes during Eid a shared communal space where people meet and reconnect with part of their old memories. In Ain al-Hilweh, the space may be narrow, but Eid still finds its place among the alleys.
