After numerous different occupations and ruling the present Egypt is a country full of different cultures and traditions. You will be able to see the traditions and culture of the Pharaohs and at the same time some Christianities. However, the major group now in Egypt are the Muslims.
Religion and Beliefs
Islam
Islam is practised by the majority of Egyptians; Islam emanated from what is today Saudi Arabia. The Prophet Muhammad is seen as the last of god’s emissaries; Muhammad was the one that brought the last book, the Quran. As usual practice, the Muslims are to pray five times a day – at dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset and evening. They are obligated to pray no matter where they are even if they are drive in the middle of the desert. The exact time is listed each day in the local newspaper. As usual Friday is the Muslim holy day and hence many companies also close on Thursday, making the weekend Thursday and Friday. And of course there will be the holy month of Ramadan when all Muslims must fast from dawn to dusk, they are also only permitted to work six hours per day. Fasting will include no eating, drinking, cigarette smoking or gum chewing. However, expatriates are not required to do so; saying so they must not eat, drink, smoke or chew gum in public. Families and friends gather together every night during that month, to celebrate the breaking if the fast. And this celebration will continue all the way into the night. In general, during Ramadan things happen more slowly, many businesses will operate on an unusual timing.
Christians
Majority of the Christians in Egypt are Coptic Christians, and they worship god in Coptic churches. The Coptic Orthodox Church’s clergy is headed by the Pope of Alexandria, Pope Shenouda III. Like most other services, the Coptic services are held on Sundays. The service usually starts at 0600 hrs or 0630 hrs; the service will last for four to six hours depending on the church and the priest. There are four parts to the service; part one will be the preparation prayer. And this will last only 30 minutes, during this 30 minutes the altar boys go around with incenses while chanting. The second part will be the offering, during offering a prayer is said over the holy bread. This part will last for 20 to 30 minutes. The third part will be the mass preaching. Here will be when the priest read sections of the Old and New Testament, as well was giving a sermon. The fourth part will be the reconciliation prayer. This only lasts for about 10 minutes, this is when the priest gives the people Christ’s forgiveness and the people will also do so to each other.
Daily Lifestyle and Education
As Egypt is now more advance their daily lifestyle will not differ much from the rest. However, they are relatively particular about their prayers timing. As mention before they have five prayers a day and Muslims will have to pray no matter where they are at the timings.
There are more school coming up at Egypt now, in addition the freedom of education has improved over the years. It is no longer only male can study and the female place is always at home. Despite saying so the available schools and institution in Egypt are still lacking behind to demand.
The official language of Egypt is current Arabic; however this dialect varies across different regions and towns. Most educated Egyptians and shopkeepers have the knowledge of speaking English and French in addition to Arabic. There are also some that have the skill of speaking the Ancient Egypt tongue passed down from the Pharaoh era.
Food
As mention before that Islam is the main religion in the country, most of the food in Egypt are halah. The Muslim does not consume pork, alcohol and animals with fangs. In addition, the meats they consume have to go through the religious slaughtering process. However, they will not restrict the non-believers from consuming alcohol but it will be best not to consume pork and other animals with fangs in Egypt.
The ancient food of bread, vegetables and dried fish are still widely consumed today. But due to the various occupations, Egypt now enjoys food from many different origins. They have French food, Persian food, English food and of course the Arabic food.
Kofta and kebab are the two most popular dishes in Egypt. Kofta is ground meat peppered with spices, skewered and grilled. Kebab is skewered and flamed-grilled chunks of meat usually lamb.
Leisure and Festival
In this modern Egypt, there are tons of leisure activities done by the people. To start off, Egyptians are passionate television viewers and now with the creation of satellite dishes and new land-based channels, the choice is becoming greater. The main TV event of the year will be the Fawazeer during the month of Ramadan. Of course since they are such a fan of television programmes they are also fans of movies. They are also very proud of having their country and culture being showcased in many different movies all around the world.
As they always say “leopards will never change its spot”, the Egyptians have never given up their love for music and dance. They have produced many great singers like, Umm Kalthoum, as known as the Lady of the Arabic Song. There are now also many different leisure activities created to target the tourist and at the same time benefited the locals. Those activities are: bird watching, cycling, desert safaris, diving, horse riding, snorkelling and windsurfing.
There are many festival in Egypt throughout the year, most of them will be culture and religion based. The festivals are:
New Year’s Day (Wep-renpet)
This is the first celebration of the year. However, for ancient Egyptians this was not only the celebration of the first day of the year but also the time when rejuvenation and rebirth ideally took place.
Sham al-Naseem
This festival involves both the Muslims and Christians in Egypt. This is the day they welcome the first day of spring with a festive picnic; Sham al-Naseem also means “the smell of spring”. On the twenty-first of March, people will gather outdoor for picnics. And on that very day, kidney beans and dried fish are the food of the day. On this day the River Nile will be full of people boating around and enjoying their picnics. Everyone and anyone will greet each other kindly, saying “al Salamu Alaycum”, which means “peace be with you”.
Moulid an-Nabi
This is when the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday is celebrated. This festival includes parades in the city streets, there will also be an extensive use of lightings and feasts will be also held. Drummers will roam the street creating the festive mood and making the whole street lively. Traditional foods like “Halawet el-Moulid” (a type of sweet), “Hummus” and “Aroussa al Moulid” (candy doll) will be made available. This particular event is held during the 3rd month of the Islamic calendar each year, and it is a happy occasion celebrated with friends and family.
Ramadan
Ramadan is the most important festival in the Islamic calendar for the Muslims. It is celebrated during the 9th month of the Islamic calendar; it is the time to honour that the Quran was revealed to the propjet Mohammed. Followers will fast for the entire month, and when they are fasting there will not be eating’ drinking or smoking allowed from sunrise to sunset. However, there are exceptions made for small children aged under the age of 10, pregnant and nursing women and lastly the elderly. In Egypt, working hours are also reduced during Ramadan to allow time for more prayer and reflection. The fast is broken each night with the meal referred to as “Iftar” this meal is often taken with friends and family with a festive mood. Celebration with traditional music and entertainment will happen throughout the night. Mosques and streets are lit up with beautiful lights each evening. The end of Ramadan is marked with a festival called “Eid-al-fitr”, this festival is celebrated with large feasts.
Egyptian Christmas
Christmas in Egypt is rather special as the celebration is held on the 7th of January each year. Similar to the month of Ramadan the Christmas season marks a time of fasting and vegetarianism for the Coptic Christians. No meant or milk is taken from November 25th to the night of January 6th. Churches and homes are festooned with lights, Christmas trees can be seen everywhere in the week leading up to Christmas, and in Christmas eve, the 6th of January, there will be celebration in churches and the bells of the churches will ring with joyous spirits and festive mood. The Pope will begin prayers at the big Cathedral in Cairo at 2300hrs and this service is also broadcasted on Egyptian television. The following day, the Christmas day, marks the end of fasting and picnics on the Nile are common places for celebrations. Children are given feast gift to buy toys or sweets of their liking.
These are the few major festival that happens in Egypt there are also many other festivals and they are as follows:
Pharaonic Wedding
This festival symbolise the ancient civilization of Egypt and is held in the month of November. This festival also has another belief that it is an auspicious day for marriages. Couples will visit the Karnak Temple and get married there.
Abu El Haggag Mpulid
This festival is dedicated to the patron saint of Luxor-Abu el Haggag. The high points of this Egyptian Festival are the horseracing, dancing, music and drum playing.
Wafaa Al Nil
This is one of the ancient festivals of Egypt and it is dedicated to the symbol of Egypt – the Nile River. It held in the month of September and the highlights of the festival are the painting competitions, sessions of poetry, seminars and music concerts.
Abu Simbel Festival
This festival is dedicated to the ancient temple of Egypt – the Abu Simbel temple. There will be ancient traditional rituals of Egypt and this festival is held on 22nd February.
The Art Festival
This festival is held from 24th – 31st August and this is a weeklong festival. This festival is also known to be the greatest art festival of the Arab world.
Indigenous People
The deserts of Egypt have many different groups of people they are the nomadic, semi-nomadic and sedentary but formerly nomadic groups. The Sinai and the northern sections of the Eastern Desert are mostly recent immigrants from Arabia; these immigrants bear some physical resemblances to Arabian Bedouin. They are originally tent dwellers and nomadic herders, and now many have converted to semi-nomads or even totally sedentary. There are also a very small number of non-Arab tribal groups living there.
Moving on to the southern section of the Eastern Desert is inhabited by the Beja; they bear a distinct resemblance to the pre-dynastic Egyptians. The Beja are divided into two tribes – the Ababdah and the Bisharin. A line between Qina and Al-Gardaqah is where the Abadah call home; there are also several groups of them settled along the Nile. On the other hand the Bisharin Live mainly in The Sudan, but there are also some dwelling in the Ilbah Mountain region, which is their traditional place of origin. Both of the tribes’ people are nomadic pastoralists.
There are groups of mixed Arab and Berber descent living in the Western Desert, outside the oases. They are also divided into two groups, the Saadi and the Murablin. The Saadi regard themselves as the descendents of Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym, the great Arab tribes that migrated to North Africa in the 11th century. They are either semi-nomadic or totally sedentary. However, Amazigh are the original inhabitants of the oases of the Western Desert.
There are also a number of small foreign ethnic groups living all around Egypt. There was a rapid growth of these communities in the 19th century and they are mainly Europeans. These foreign ethnic groups include Italians, British, French and Greeks...
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