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At the beginning of the celebration, the baby is placed in a sieve, a kind of tray with a bottom net used in kitchens to separate flour from other impurities before preparing the dough. Today, however, such sieves are hardly used. Instead, the decorated sieves sold at Darb al-Barbara market are precisely intended for Sebou’ celebrations — blue sieves for baby boys and pink ones for baby girls.

Long ago, the sieve would be placed on a high table with a traditional kettle next to it in case of a male infant, or a clay pitcher in case of a female infant. This tradition no longer takes place today. Then, the sieve and the child were carried and placed on the floor. This is when, most often, the grandmother or another elderly relative of the baby, started banging a copper pestle and mortar and repeating commandments to the baby, advising him or her to be obedient to the parents.