''That is like saying that because I live in Ohio I don't consider
myself American. All Egyptians speak Arabic as their first language,
''
Egyptian colloquial Arabic contains over 10,00 words from ancient
Egyptian,and it is quite different than standard Arabic. Much of the
Saidi dialect in Egyptian colloquial Arabic is very sdimilar to Sahdic
Coptic. Even Cairene Egyptians often misunderstand Sa3eadi Egyptians.
Learn a little about Egypt before you speak.
From the most distant past to the modern day, some things never
change-including words. The modern Egyptian Arabic dialect is one of
the most distinctive in the Arabic-speaking world precisely because of
its illustrious heritage from the country's ancient past. Ahmad
Abdel-Hamid Youssef spends a day in the Egyptian countryside, taking
note of the many expressions that once fell from the lips of the
ancient Egyptians and that continue to be heard on the tongues of the
modern Egyptians in their everyday speech. His charming tale of
Bayoumi, a farmer, his wife Sawsan, and their baby provides the
backdrop for tracing the persistence of these words and phrases. What
these average Egyptians do, what tools they use, what they eat, how
they organize their life, even how they interact-all can be described
with words that hark back to the age of the pharaohs.
http://www.aucpress.com/cgi-aucpress/auc99/pager.cgi?catno=708_6
'', all foods and architecture is of Arabic origin and the religio''
Actually most staple foods of Egyptians are Turkish in origin,but some
like Ful Ghadames is an authenic Egyptian dish. Ayish Baladi is also
an Egyptian speciality. Falafel,an Arabic staple, was developed by
Coptic Christains;thus Falafel is not Arabic,but Egyptian.
Both Claudia Roden in The New Book of Middle Eastern Food and Anissa
Helou in Mediterranean Street Food give recipes for falafel and some
background on the dish, as well as variations.
Roden says, "This is one of Egypt's national dishes.... The Christian
Copts, who are said to be pure descendants of the ancient Egyptians,
claim this dish as their own.... During Coptic religious festivals,
and particularly during Lent, when they are not allowed to eat meat
for many weeks, every Coptic family produces mountains of ta'amia
[called "falafel" in Alexandria].... Ta'amia are patties or rissoles
made from large dried fava bean (ful nabed), which look white because
they are sold skinless."
Variations, according to Roden, include: dipping the ta'amia in sesame
seeds before frying them; mixing small amount of yeast dissolved in
water into the paste and then letting it rest for an hour before
cooking to give a lighter rissole; adding finely chopped parsley,
scallions, crushed garlic, ground cumin, cayenne, coriander to a
"ready mix"; she also says, "In Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, falafel
are made with a mix of chickpeas and fava beans, and in Israel ... it
is made with chickpeas alone."
Helou says that the "Egyptian ta'miyah is rather different from the
Lebanese/Syrian falafel, softer and starchier. The sandwiches are also
made differently. Egyptian pita is smaller and thicker, and when made
with coarsely ground whole wheat, it is called aysh baladi. The bread
is cut crosswise in half, and the pocket opened and filled with the
ta'miyah and garnish. Lebanese/Syrian pita ... is large, round, and
very thin. It is opened at the seam, and the two layers are placed one
on top of the other with the rough side up. The filling is then
arranged down the middle and the bread rolled around it. As for the
garnish, in Egypt you can have potato chips or French fries, shredded
lettuce or tomatoes, radishes or pickles. In Lebanon/Syria the choice
is generally herbs, tomatoes, and pickles. Only the tahini sauce is a
constant in both countries, although the name differs: tahina in Egypt
and tarator in Lebanon."
Egyptians that live in rual areas in Said[Upper Egypt] still construct
their houses like in antiquity. Actually,most Egyptian architecture in
the city is more Italian than Arabic. Islamic architecture was
different for each region that the invading Arabs invaded,because the
Arabs never had a traditional architectural culture. You might be
suprised,but many of the Coptics[common name for all Egyptians by
Arabs] built many of the mosques in Egypt,as well as many in Jerusalem
and Damascus. Even a Coptic[Egyptian] rebuilt the Kaaba in Makkah.
As far as relgion,many modern Egyptians pratice a form of
sychrinzed verisons of more ancient pharoanic relgion. This is well
documented in various sufi traditions such the moulid festivals held
each year. Baladi Egyptians still use amulets,visit shrines,and visit
their dead ancestors and make food offerings for them like the
ancient Egyptians did. None of these customs exist any where in the
Arab world except for Egypt !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Egyptians spend more time at cemetaries than most Middle Easteners.
Some baladi women sleep at the cemetary to pray dawn prayer at the
family gave
Page 113
Baladi Women of Cairo
Evelyn E Early
________ancient Egyptian custom !!!!!!!!
An interesting local influence is the apperance of the small shawbti
statues[placed in a pharoah's tomb to serve him each day of the year]
in the pilgramige house paitinings near phaoranic sites
page 115
Baladi Women of Cairo
Evelyn A Early
_________ancient Egyptian custom
One day at a village shrine,her daughter-in-law's mother inquired
about a fertility amulet for her daughter
page 46
Baladi Women of Cairo
Evenlyn A early
___________________________-ancient Egyptian custom !!!!!!!
The Baladi women from Cairo Bulaq that have migrated from the
Delta[Northern] or Upper Egypt[Southern Egypt] within the past thrity
years. The few long term residents live similar lives and often have
rual relatives
Page 4
Evelyn A Early
Baladi Women of Cairo
_______________rual Upper Egyptians who migrate to Cairo and live in
Bulaq Abu Ala
http://www.aucpress.com/cgi-aucpress/auc99/pager.cgi?catno=558_X
book reference about pharoanic survials amungst rual Upper Egyptian
Falaheen. This book is out of print,but you will find it via through
interlibrary loan
''....In Muslim as well as Christian communities, and particularly at
the
lower socio-economic levels, religious practices are strongly imbued
with non-orthodox folk elements, some of pharaonic origin. Although
orthodox Islam is well grounded in urban areas, the countryside is
the domain of a rich folk-religion, replete with beliefs in the
magical, miraculous and occult.(n31)...''
''....In Muslim as well as Christian communities, and particularly at
the
lower socio-economic levels, religious practices are strongly imbued
with non-orthodox folk elements, some of pharaonic origin. Although
orthodox Islam is well grounded in urban areas, the countryside is
the domain of a rich folk-religion, replete with beliefs in the
magical, miraculous and occult.(n31)....''
n31.) See Winifred S. Blackman, The Fellahin of Upper Egypt, London:
Frank Cass & Co., 1968), pp. 183-200
''.....Upper Egypt comprises the country's eight southernmost
governorates.
As is tree of Chiapas, the region's history is one of isolated
removal from the center of national life. The local relationships
resulting from this centuries-old condition gave Upper Egypt an
identity of its own within the modem Egyptian state. Alongside the
even more ancient presence of Copts, tribal groupings dating from the
Arab conquest combined to form a hierarchical order that placed two
groups, the ashraf and the arab, in dominating positions. These were
followed by lesser tribes, with the fellah at the bottom of the
social scale.(n28) Southerners came to be stereotyped negatively in
the rest of the country, widely held to be crude, prone to violence
and lacking intelligence.
The authority of central governments in Upper Egypt was cemented
through clientelist ties with leading families of the ashraf and arab
groups. Even the Nasserist regime did not substantially undermine
this political-administrative arrangement. Although land reform
benefited peasant farmers to a degree, members of the landed classes
used a variety of means to retain much of their holdings. Cairo
continued to staff the higher ranks of the local police and security
apparatus with personnel from the ashraf and arabs.(n29)
Religion was central to the development of Upper Egyptian society.
The ashraf claimed direct descent from the Prophet, while the arabs
traced their lineage to a group of tribes from Arabia. On the other
hand, the status of the fellahin rested on the belief that they
descended from Egypt's pre-Islamic community and had converted to
Islam, a history that placed them inescapably beneath both the ashraf
and arabs.(n30) Copts have occupied an ambivalent position in the
social scale; as Christians they are considered inferior to Muslims
but their individual status effectively depends on more material
criteria......'''
http://www.iupui.edu/~anthkb/a104/egypt/conflictegyptmex.htm
The Mosque of Abu'l Hagag in the Temple of Luxor. The Islamic mosque
is located over the First Court and adjoins the eastern wall of the
Temple of Luxor. It was built in medieval times above the walls of an
ancient Christian basilica located inside the temple courtyard. When
the mosque was erected, the derelict temple was already filled with a
high mound of soil and debris. That mound was later excavated, leaving
the mosque and its doorway standing high above the courtyard on the
church's foundations. A new door and a stairway were built on the east
side (shown here). The mosque is dedicated to Abu'l Hagag, the Muslim
saint who reputedly converted Upper Egypt to Islam. The mud-brick
minaret on the right dates to the eighth century A.D., while the other
minaret is much later. To this day, the Muslims of Luxor celebrate the
annual festival of Abu'l Hagag with processions and boat-haulings that
descend directly from the ancient Festival of Opet connected with
Luxor Temple. (Caption - Peter Piccione
http://www-oi.uchicago.edu/OI/TVE_TPP/0981_3.html
Upper Egyptians were able to keep so many customs because of their
isolation from the rest of the city dwellers.
While the villages live on in their enclosed world,almost untouched by
the influence of Islam,the cities were the product of the great
medevil Islamic civlization which was essentially urban. The city
dwellers depised the Fellahin and had almost no contact with them
excepot in the purchase of their crops. It is no exgeration to say
that the citzens of Cairo felt more in common with the inhabitants
felt more in common with the inhabitants of Damacus or Bagdad than he
did with a Egyptian fellahin. All the Arabic litterature of the period
belongs to the cities and provides no insight of the country side.
Page 100
The Arab World: A Comprehensive History
by Peter Mansfield
Of course more rual Egyptians have been moving to the North since
around the 1950's
Despite the marked growth of several cities,especially Cairo,Egyptian
social structure retains village roots more than the urban migration
would indicate. Increasing hundreads of thousands of landless and
displaced fellahin have flooded into cities since the 1950's,often
grouping themselves by place of origin and thus preserving their
village idenity. Indeed,this kind of urbanization,the virtual
displacement of village to city has been reffered to as the relization
of Cairo''Incoming migrants typically have little education,almost no
money,and no relavent skills.
page 449
Middle East Patterns: Places, Peoples, and Politics
by Colbert C. Held
___More to come