"A custom termed “Shemm en-Neseem” (or the Smelling of the Zephyr) is observed on the first day of the Khamáseen. Early in the morning of this day, many persons, especially women, break an onion, and smell it; and in the course of the forenoon, many of the citizens of Cairo ride or walk a little way into the country, or go in boats, generally northwards, to take the air, or, as they term it, smell the air, which, on that day, they believe to have a wonderfully beneficial effect. The greater number dine in the country, or on the river. This year (1834), they were treated with a violent hot wind, accompanied by clouds of dust, instead of the neseem: but considerable numbers, notwithstanding, went out to “smell” it."
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Edward William Lane, An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians (1834), Chapter XXVI
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Picnic
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Picnic
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