Unlike other months of the year, the exhibitions and festivals held in Ramadan, usually begin before sunset and continue until one hour after midnight.
Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, no cultural exhibition was held in the country during the past two years and only a limited number of expos were held virtually.
However, the situation has changed in the current year and the implementation of the vaccination program in the country helped control the spread of coronavirus disease.
It caused the relevant officials to hold the Seventh National Toy Festival in the holy month of Ramadan after two years of cancelation.
Passion for toys
I went to the exhibition hall of the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, located in Hijab Street, where the Seventh National Toy Festival is underway from April 10-17.
It was 6 p.m. and no parking space was available in the street. Balloons, pictures and animation characters, installed in the area, direct people to the entrance of the exhibition.
A large number of people flocked to the festival and the noise of children playing and rejoicing could be heard from everywhere.
The passion for toys and games attracted many people to the venue of the event. The number of adults who participated in the exhibition was no less than that of the children.
Attending a fun exhibition and seeing so many people together made me absolutely delighted.
Simple and complicated toys
The Seventh National Toy Festival is aimed at introducing Iranian-made commodities, support domestic manufacturers and help boost national production.
More than 100 domestic toy producers got together in the expo to display and sell their products.
A variety of instructive toys and games are available in the numerous pavilions of the expo, from simple toys such as handmade dolls, puzzles and playdough to more complicated ones including robots and convertible machines.
Playful children and spirited parents
Numerous sections were prepared for children to play and have fun. In one of them, a number of kids were making various things using colorful interlocking plastic building blocks.
Parents sometimes guided their kids or participated in the activities themselves.
In another part of the expo, a group of adults gathered around a table to play chess with oversized rooks, bishops and pawns. I wondered who had been more into coming to the exhibition: The parents or their kids?
As the time of sunset and iftar was approaching, a group of parents persuaded their children to leave the hall of expo and go home.
But some other parents had prepared sandwiches and flasks of tea in advance. When they heard the call to prayer, they spread their iftar tablecloth in a part of the open area outside the hall.
The hall was almost empty during iftar, but the festival had a second half. A group of kids and parents came to the exhibition after iftar and their joyful activities lasted until one hour after midnight.
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