LANE, EDWARD WILLIAM
MORALS AND CUSTOMS OF MODERN EGYPTIANS
HOME WAY
We have examined in detail the moral and social foundations of the life of Muslims in Egypt, now we can get acquainted with their home life and traditions. Let's start with the upper and middle strata of society.
When referring to the head of the family or to any adult male, except for servants and commoners, Muslims usually express their respect by adding the word to the name sheikh(lit., "senior" or "elderly"). But often this address, adopted mainly in relation to people known for their education or holiness, is used in the same meaning as the English "Mr." The Sheriff is called seid or seyyid("master"), no matter what position he occupies. Many sheriffs belong to the lower strata of the population, among the revered descendants of Muhammad there are many servants, scavengers and beggars, but they are all supposed to be called this honorable name, in addition, they are distinguished from other Muslims by green turbans 1 . However, many of those entitled to these privileges, not only among the poor, but also among the rich, and especially among scientists, do not want to use them and prefer white turbans and treatment sheikh. A man who has made a pilgrimage is usually called hagg, and the woman hagga, however, many pilgrims, like the sheriffs just mentioned, prefer the title sheikh. Common term for a woman sitt("Miss").
Before proceeding to describe the behavior of the head of the family, it is necessary to tell about who the Muslim family consists of. For the harem, a special room is assigned (called, like its inhabitants, “harem”), where none of the males, except for the head of the family, some close relatives and children, are allowed to enter. A harem is a wife or wives (up to four), slaves (whites and "Abyssinians", or rather, Gauls, are most often the concubines of the head of the family, others, black, cook food, serve wives, etc.), finally, free , servants who are not concubines, at least legalized. Male servants are sometimes black or white slaves, but most often freelancers. Very few Egyptians allow themselves to have four wives, as is allowed by Islam, and it is even rarer to find a man who, in addition to two or more wives, also keeps concubines. Even those who have only one wife, for the sake of maintaining peace in the family or for other reasons, prefer not to have slave concubines. Others believe that it is better not to have a wife, whose maintenance is quite expensive, but to keep an Abyssinian concubine, who is served by a black slave or an Egyptian servant who also performs other household chores. Wives are rarely placed in the same house, usually they live in different places. If funds allow, the head of the family employs one or two male servants to attend to him and his male guests, and, in addition, sakka- a water carrier who serves the harem and accompanies women when they leave the house 2 , bawwaba- the gatekeeper who sits at the entrance to the house, and saisa- a groom who looks after a horse, mule or donkey. Rarely do any of the Egyptians have Mameluke, those. white servant, most often they belong to the Turks, and few,
apart from high-ranking Turks, keeps eunuchs, but a wealthy Egyptian merchant is proud if he has a black slave who rides or walks behind him and carries his pipe.The Egyptians go to bed early and get up very early, because they are supposed to get up and dress before dawn, when it is time for morning prayer. Usually, while the head of the family performs ritual bathing and says prayers, the wife or slave makes coffee for him and fills his pipe so that by the time he finishes the religious ceremony, everything is ready.
Many Egyptians are satisfied with a cup of coffee and a pipe until noon, and some eat a light breakfast early in the morning. The first meal of the Egyptians (al-fatour) consists, as a rule, of bread, eggs, butter, cheese and whipped cream or sour milk, etc., or of fatyry - thin pancakes soaked in milk and folded like a napkin, sometimes sprinkled with honey or sprinkled with sugar. Very often they eat beans for breakfast, like our fava beans, which languish all night in a stoppered earthen vessel, immersed to the brim in the hot ashes of a stove or bath. This dish is eaten with flaxseed or butter and is usually seasoned with a small amount of lemon juice, and in this form it is sold in the mornings in the markets of Cairo and other cities. Often, for those who do not have the means for exquisite dishes, the meal consists of bread and the so-called Dhaka - mixture of salt and pepper zaatar(wild marjoram), mint or cumin, to which they add either coriander seeds, or cinnamon, sesame or hummus(small "Turkish" peas). Bread is dipped into this mixture, which is always in the form of a round cake, a span wide and a finger thick. Almost all Egyptians who can afford such a luxury drink a cup of coffee and smoke a pipe early in the morning and several times during the day. Many always have a pipe with them: either they themselves hold it in their hands, or they pass it on to a servant who carries it everywhere with his master. Smokers keep their tobacco in a pouch made of shawl, silk or velvet, often accompanied by a small pouch containing flint, steel and tinder. It is usually worn in the bosom.
Tubes (they are called differently: shibuk, oud etc.) are usually four to five feet 3 length, sometimes a little shorter, and sometimes much longer. Most pipes are made from wood. accordion. Most of the pipe (beginning at the mouthpiece and about three-quarters of the length) is covered with silk, trimmed at the ends with gold thread, often intertwined with either colored silk or with a strip of gold or silver, and the lower end of the silk cover is decorated with a brush. This cover was originally intended to be wetted with water to cool the pipe (and hence the smoke), but this is only done when the pipe is old or ugly. In winter, many Egyptians smoke cherry wood pipes, they are never made of silk.
do not cover. In summer, the harmonica pipe produces a cooler smoke than others. The cup-shaped part of the pipe is made of baked clay and painted red or brown. 4 . The mouthpiece is made from two or more pieces of dark and light amber, connected by an ornament of enamelled gold, agate, jasper, carnelian, or some other semi-precious stone. This is the most expensive part of the tube; sometimes mouthpieces are even decorated with diamonds. The most common type of pipe costs about two to three pounds. Behind the mouthpiece is a wooden part that quickly becomes clogged with nicotine and therefore needs to be changed frequently. The tube also has to be cleaned often, and this is done with the help of tow wound on a long wire. Many poor people in Cairo make a living by cleaning pipes.Tobacco, which is smoked by Egyptians from the upper and middle strata of society, has a very subtle and pleasant aroma. It is produced mainly in the vicinity of Latakia, in Syria. In the mountains adjacent to this city, the best variety of "mountain tobacco" is grown. 5 . The middle class most often smokes stronger tobacco, called "Tyrian" - after the city of Tyre. 6 sometimes a mixture of both varieties is smoked. When smoking, the inhabitants of Egypt and other eastern countries inhale deeply, so that a significant part of the smoke enters the lungs. Therefore, the Arabic expression "to smoke tobacco" literally means "drink tobacco" or "drink smoke", since tobacco and smoke are denoted by the same word. It is rare to see an Egyptian spitting while smoking.
Some noble Egyptians smoke a Persian pipe in which the smoke passes through the water; this tube is called narghile, because the water is in the coconut, which in Arabic is called narghile. Another type of tube - with a glass vessel - is called shisha 7 . Persian pipes always have a very long, flexible stem. For water pipes, a special type of Persian tobacco is used - bedside table It is first washed several times and stuffed with a pipe while it is still wet, and two or three pieces of burning charcoal are placed on top. This type of pipe gives off a very pleasant, mild fragrance, but because this type of smoking has to draw the smoke in strongly, it is harmful to people with weak lungs. 8 . When smoking a Persian pipe, people draw smoke into their lungs as freely as air. It is believed that due to smoking nargile among the inhabitants of Arabia and Egypt, many people suffer from liver disease. The common people smoke a pipe commonly called goza; it is arranged in the same way as the nargile, only its trunk is short, not flexible and without a stand. They stuff it either with a tumbak, or with intoxicating hashish, or with hemp (see Fig. 33).
Coffee (qahwa or ahwa) brewed very strong and drunk without sugar and without milk. coffee cups (fingan) usually very small: they hold less than one and a half ounces of liquid. Made
they are made of porcelain or Dutch glass, without handles, so they are placed in other cups (zarf), very similar to egg coasters and made of silver or copper - depending on how wealthy the owner of the service is 9 . Freshly roasted and ground coffee is placed in boiled water and stirred, after which the pot is put on fire once or twice to bring the coffee to a boil, then it is poured into cups while the surface is still creamy. The Egyptians especially like strong coffee without any seasonings, sugar is added very rarely (only in case of illness), milk or cream - never, but often they put a little cardamom grains in it. It is also customary to fumigate the dishes with the smoke of the resin of the mastic tree. In wealthy homes, it is sometimes given an exquisite amber scent. Usually this is done like this: they put ambergris, about a carat weight, into a coffee pot and dissolve it on fire, then they make coffee in another coffee pot, let it settle for a while and pour it into a coffee pot with ambergris. And sometimes they just stick a piece of ambergris weighing about two carats on the bottom of the cup: this amount is enough for two or three weeks. So do people who want to always drink aromatic coffee, but treat them not to everyone. The coffee pot is sometimes served in a silver or copper vessel (azki) with burning coals. Such a vessel is suspended on three chains. While serving coffee, the servant holds the leg of the zarf between thumb and forefinger. Fingan is taken with two hands - left from below, and right from above.In cold weather, a copper brazier filled with coal is placed on the floor. (mancal, colloquially mankad), in which aromatic substances sometimes burn (Fig. 35). The Egyptians are very fond of pleasant smells and often refresh their homes with fragrances. Most often, low-grade incense is used for this, the so-called bahoor al barr, as well as benzoin or aloe wood.
If an Egyptian is able to keep a horse, a mule or a donkey, or to hire a donkey, he very rarely goes out of his house on foot, but few of the inhabitants of Cairo or other cities
decides to keep the horse because it might suggest his excessive wealth and encourage the authorities to extort additional taxes from him. Modern Egyptians use soft saddles covered with embroidered or some other beautiful fabric or velvet, the headband and chest part of the bridle are decorated with silk tassels, coins or some kind of silver ornaments (Fig. 36). Wealthy merchants and ulema usually ride mules with approximately the same saddles, only the saddles on which the ulema ride are covered with saggada, sometimes saddles for women are also covered with such rugs, which, however, are very different from men's, which will be discussed below. Through the narrow and crowded streets of Cairo, the donkey is usually allowed to walk at a shallow pace. There are many donkeys in Cairo, and they can always be hired. Egypt has long been famous for its beautiful donkeys, which, as a rule, are larger than English ones and surpass them in every respect. The price of a good, thoroughbred and trained donkey corresponds to about three or four pounds sterling, and sometimes even exceeds the cost of an ordinary horse. A soft saddle is put on the donkey, the front part of which is covered with red leather, and the seat is covered with soft, colored, woolen blanket, the stirrup is always made very short. To clear the way for a rider riding a horse, his groom (there may be two of them) runs ahead, armed with a long stick (nabbut), which he holds vertically, grabbing the lower end. For the same purpose, next to the donkey, behind him, and sometimes in front, a servant also runs, urging passers-by to move out of the way or beware, so that they don’t get hit on the back, face, sides, legs or heels. 10 . However, the rider should not rely on his servant, but look both ways, so as not to hit the voluminous luggage of the camel and not fly out of the saddle: such troubles inevitably happen on narrow streets filled with pedestrians. The rider's pipe is usually carried by a servant who fills it and lights it when his master dismounts near some house or shop.If the Egyptian does not have a specific occupation, he spends most day, either driving around the city, visiting friends and acquaintances and shopping, or smoking a pipe, drinking coffee and indulging in conversation with friends at home. In the mornings, he spends an hour or more in a public bath, enjoying this procedure. At noon, if he observes the Muslim rites, it is time for prayer again, but, as I have already said, among the Egyptians there are comparatively few people who never neglect their religious duties, on the contrary, many of them hardly pray at all. In the early afternoon (unless he had a brunch), the Egyptian eats a light lunch, followed by pipe smoking and a cup of coffee, and in hot weather he indulges in a midday nap for some time. Often the head of the family retires to rest in the harem, where his wife or maid guards his peace or rubs his feet. In such cases, and at other times, when the master of the house wants to be in solitude, the servant explains to every incoming guest that his master is in the harem, and everyone knows that it is impossible to call him from there, except perhaps for some very important and urgent matter. From the time of the afternoon prayer until sunset (the time of the next prayer), the Egyptian again enjoys his pipe and coffee in the company of one or more friends at home or somewhere else. Shortly after sunset, he has dinner.
I will now move on to the description of the dinner. (al-ghada), supper (al-asha) and how it is customary to make these meals, of which dinner is considered the main one. They usually cook during the day, and what remains of dinner, if there are no guests in the house, is eaten the next day for lunch. The head of the family usually dine and dine with his wife or wives and children, but many men from higher strata either consider such a meal to be humiliating for themselves, or they are too busy for this and can take part in a family meal only on rare occasions. There are also among the common people men who very rarely eat with their wives and children. If someone is visiting a friend when the hour of dinner comes, the host must definitely arrange for dinner to be brought. This is also considered necessary in cases where the guest is a stranger.
Before sitting at the table, or rather, at the TRAY, EVERYONE MUST WASH their hands 11 , and sometimes the mouth with water or at least pour over the right hand
water. The servant brings a copper basin and a jug (tisht And ibrik) 12 (Fig. 37). The basin is covered with a lid with holes and with a special rise for soap in the middle. When water is poured on the hands, it passes through the holes into the basin, so that when the basin is carried further to other companions, the accumulated water in it is not visible (Fig. 38). Each is given a napkin (foot).The table is a round copper tray (it is called blue And saniya) usually two to three feet in diameter; placed on a wooden stool (curse) about fifteen inches high, which is often covered with mother-of-pearl, tortoise-shell, bone, etc. These two items make up sufra(Fig. 39). On a tray are laid out round cakes, sometimes cut in half, a few lemons cut in half, which are squeezed into any dish that requires sour seasoning, and boxwood or ivory spoons, one for each of the companions. Flatbreads often serve as plates. Then, in accordance with the custom of the country, several dishes of copper or porcelain are placed on a tray at the same time with various dishes, vegetables, etc., or one dish at a time in turn in the Turkish way.
The companions sit on the floor around the tray, and each puts a napkin on his knees; if the tray is near a low sofa, as is often the case, some sit on the sofa, while others sit on the floor. If the meal is especially crowded, they put the tray in the middle of the room and sit around it, putting one knee on the floor, and lifting the second (right) knee - this is the most accepted posture during meals, allowing twelve companions to sit around a tray three feet wide. Sitting down at the table, roll up the right sleeve to the elbow and, before starting the meal, say: "Bismillah"("In the name of Allah") 13 . This phrase is usually pronounced very quietly, the first to do this is the owner of the house. It is considered both a blessing and an invitation to partake in the meal. If the one to whom the words are addressed bismillah or tafaddal(which in this case means: “Give me
mercy and take part in the meal”), does not want to accept the invitation, he should answer: "Ganian"(“May it be pleasant”) or something like that, otherwise there will be fear of the evil eye, for it is said that food that has been “evilized” is not blessed. But the insistence with which the Egyptians persuade the stranger to eat with them shows that the bismillah is pronounced primarily from the motives of hospitality. The owner of the house begins to eat first, his example is followed by guests and other companions. Muslims do not use forks and knives, they are replaced by the thumb and forefinger of the right hand; for soup, rice and other dishes that are difficult to eat otherwise, spoons are served, and in special cases, which will be discussed below, both hands are used. If there are several dishes on the tray at the same time, everyone takes from some of them at will, and sometimes from all of them in turn, when only one dish is served, everyone is treated, and then the dish is removed and another one is placed. 14 . It is considered polite to take a small piece and give it to a friend. When the inhabitants of Egypt and other countries of the East eat with their hands, this is not done as crudely as a European can imagine, who has never seen this and has not read the exact descriptions of such a meal. Everyone breaks off a small piece of bread and dips it into the dish, and then brings it to the mouth along with a piece of meat or something else taken from the dish. 15 . A piece of bread is usually folded in half, holding meat or something else inside, using only the thumb and forefinger. If a piece of meat cannot be immediately put into the mouth, it is placed on bread (Fig. 40).Food is served in such a way that it is convenient to eat in the manner described above. It usually consists of yahni- stew with chopped onions, bamya 16 or other vegetables; kavurma- fatty stew with onions; warak mahshi- a mixture of rice and minced meat (lightly seasoned with salt and onions, and often garlic, parsley, etc.), wrapped in grape, lettuce or cabbage leaves and boiled in this form; cucumbers (khiyar), black, white or red badingans 17 or pumpkin (karakusa) the same size and
forms like cucumber stuffed with the same mixture of meat, rice and spices; kebab, or small pieces of beef or lamb roasted on a spit. Many dishes consist entirely or mainly of vegetables: cabbage, purslane, spinach, okra, beans, lupine, chickpeas, finely chopped pumpkin, etc. Fish seasoned with sunflower oil is often served. Since fats are scarce in Egypt, most dishes are cooked in refined oil, and they put a lot of it (in the hot season it is completely liquid). The game is divided into parts either with two hands, or taken together so that each operates only with the right hand, some are controlled by themselves, with one hand. Many Arabs consider it unlawful to touch food with the left hand and make an exception only when right hand crippled 18 . Game is often stuffed with raisins, pistachios, breadcrumbs and parsley, sometimes a whole lamb is also cooked, but its meat is easily separated with one hand. Stews are often flavored with sweets: yahni, for example, is served with sugared peaches and apricots. A variety of sweets are served with the meal, regardless of the order of other dishes. A favorite sweet dish of the Egyptians is kunafa, which looks like thin vermicelli made from wheat flour. It is roasted and seasoned with sugar and honey. In the appropriate season, watermelon is part of the meal. (battyh). It is cut about a quarter of an hour before serving and cooled for outdoors, but at the same time they are constantly watching, no matter how the snake crawls up and poisons it with its breath or bite, since it is believed that these reptiles are especially fond of watermelons and smell them at a great distance. There are a lot of watermelons in Egypt, very tasty and healthy. The meal usually ends with boiled rice with butter, salt and pepper. (ruzz muffalfal, Turkish pilaf), but in rich houses it is often followed by a bowl khushaf 19 - sweet decoction of raisins with sugar, cooled and seasoned with rose water 20 . Often watermelon is served instead. 2l .The Egyptians eat little and rather quickly. After finishing the meal, everyone says: "Al-hamdu li-lla"(“Praise be to Allah”) and gets up without waiting for others 22 . After that, they wash their face and hands with soap, the servant gives a basin and pours from a jug, just like before a meal.
They drink only water from the Nile at the meal, and in rich houses - sherbet, which will be described below. During meals, Arabs drink very little or not at all, but immediately after eating they drink quite a lot. The Nile water is amazingly delicious, while the wells in Cairo and throughout Egypt are slightly brackish. Water is drunk either from clay bottles or from copper cups. 23 . There are two types of water bottles: dorak- with a narrow neck and kullya- with a wide (Fig. 41, A And b). They are made of grayish porous clay, which cools water well by evaporation, so they are usually exposed to a draft. The inner surface of these bottles is smoked with the smoke of some resinous tree, and then in the same way they give it the aroma of a tree. kafali 24 and mastics. An inverted bottle is held over a small earthen vessel. (mibhara), in which they put the burning charcoal and mastic necessary for kindling the tree. About an inch from the neck, the dorak is tied with a cloth so that the resin does not spill over the surface. In addition, for flavor, a little juice from the orange tree flower is poured into the bottle. The bottles are either stoppered with silver, copper, pewter, or wood stoppers, or
woven palm leaves and placed on a tray of tinned copper, on which the water protruding from them accumulates. In cold weather, many houses prefer porcelain dishes to such bottles, which cool the water too much (Fig. 42). On fig. 43 shows drinking cups of the most common form. Inside some of them are texts from the Koran and other sayings or the names of the "Seven Sleeping Youths" engraved, but I rarely saw this. Before drinking water, and after that, they must repeat the same exclamations that are pronounced before eating and after eating, and each of the companions says to the drinker: “Let it be pleasant” 25 to which one should reply: “May Allah grant you joy” 26 .In some delightful stories of the Thousand and One Nights we read of "taking food away" and "bringing wine," but in modern Egypt, Muslims rarely consume this forbidden drink in public. But still, many allow themselves to drink wine in the company of selected acquaintances. The servants of such a person know exactly which of his friends can be allowed into the house when the master indulges in these forbidden pleasures, and all others are told that the master is not at home or that he is in the harem. Such people drink wine before dinner, after and during it, but most of all - before, because it is believed that it stimulates the appetite. According to a friend of mine who is a repentant Muslim drunkard (I cannot speak of this from my own experience, since I do not drink wine and therefore I have never been invited to take part in a Muslim feast), wine is served on a round lacquered tray or on a glass dish. Usually on such a tray there are two jugs of figured glass: in one - wine, and in the other - a sweet drink made from raisins and sugar, and sometimes a couple of bottles, several small glass bowls and glass saucers with dry and fresh fruits and some pickles. . In addition, there are two candles on the tray and often a bouquet of flowers in a candlestick.
The Egyptians consume various types of sweet drink - sherbet. Most often it's just very sweet water, sometimes lemonade (sharab al-limun) or the most prized variety, a green drink made from crushed violet flowers boiled with sugar (sharab al-banafsag). The fourth type of sherbet is made from mulberry (sharab at-tut), fifth - from sorrel (sharab al-humaid). Raisin sherbet is also sold on the streets (zabib), that's what it's called. There is another drink, which is a strong infusion of licorice root. (irsus) and is called the same as this root, the third is made from the carob tree and is called by the name of its fruit - harrub. Sherbet served in glass cups (kulla)(about three-quarters of a pint 27 ), painted with gilded flowers (Fig. 44). Cups for sherbet are placed on a round tray and covered with a round napkin made of
embroidered silk or brocade. On the right hand of the one who serves sherbet hangs a large oblong napkin, embroidered with wide patterns of gold and silk along the edges. It is obviously intended to wipe the lips after drinking, but it is very rarely used, and hangs rather for show.The gap between dinner and the act, the time of prayer and nightfall, the Egyptians usually spend smoking a pipe and drinking coffee. If smoking is interrupted because of prayer, then they indulge in this pleasure again. In addition, conversations, checkers, chess, or some other games help pass the time. Members of a prosperous Egyptian family can spend time in pleasant, but always quiet, peaceful activities. At dinner time or after it, men often go to visit friends. Usually they use in these, and in other cases, a folding lantern (fanous) made of waxed fabric stretched over wire rings, with tinned copper base and lid. On fig. 45 shows such a lantern and an ordinary lamp (kandil) in a wooden case that serves as protection from the wind. This lamp is a small glass vessel with a tube embedded in the bottom, into which is inserted a wick made of cotton wrapped around straw. First, water is poured into the lamp, and then fuel. This type of lamp is often hung above the entrance to the house. At night, the interiors of houses look gloomier than during the day: to illuminate a large, elegant room, it is considered sufficient to light two candles (standing on the floor or on a stool, sometimes hidden under a large glass lampshade or inserted into a glass lantern, since there are no glasses in the windows, but there are only lattices). In summer, few Egyptians are awake after three or four in the morning, i.e. within three or four hours after sunset (at any time of the year, the starting point of the clock is sunset); in winter they sometimes sit up for five or six hours after sunset.
This is how the middle-class Egyptians spend their days, who do not have permanent occupations or affairs that would require their participation or presence. It is customary for merchants to go to the shops or warehouses shortly after breakfast and stay there almost until sunset. 28 . They have enough leisure in the shop to smoke as much as they like, and their customers often smoke with them. For some of the customers, the merchant offers a pipe (if they don't have their own) and a cup of coffee, which is brought from the nearest coffee shop. Much of the day is often spent in pleasant conversation with shoppers or merchants from neighboring shops. Merchants usually pray without leaving their shops. Soon after the afternoon prayer, and sometimes before it or shortly after it, they eat either a light breakfast or a kebab with a flatbread (brought by a servant from home or bought at the market), a flatbread with cheese, pickles, or some other edible sold on the streets. . If at the same time there is a buyer in the shop, he is always invited, and often very insistently, to take part.
at the meal. The shops always keep large clay bottles of water, which are filled as needed by those passing through the streets of the sakka. In the evening, the merchant returns home, eats his supper, and soon goes to bed.In Egypt, it is customary for a husband and wife to sleep on the same bed, with the exception of only wealthy families in which they prefer to have separate beds. In the homes of middle-class people, the bed is usually arranged like this: they put a mattress stuffed with cotton (tarraha) about six feet long and three or four feet wide on low palm trestles (sarir), a pillow is placed at the head, and a sheet is spread on both the pillow and the mattress. In summer, they usually cover themselves only with a light blanket. (haram), and in winter - quilted, stuffed with cotton (lihaf). If there is no goat, the mattress is placed directly on the floor or two mattresses one on top of the other, and sometimes sofa cushions are placed on the sides. Anti-mosquito curtain 29 hung near the bed on four shoelaces tied to nails driven into the wall. Egyptians rarely change clothes when they go to bed, in winter many sleep in all their clothes, taking off only their outer clothes, and in summer they don’t take anything off at all. In winter, the bed is placed in a small closet (khazna), in the summer - in a large room. During the day, all bedding is rolled up and placed on the side or brought into the closet. In the hottest weather, many sleep on rooftops or in open space (faskha or fasakha), but from sleeping in the open night air, eye diseases and other ailments often arise. In the most widespread mud of the goat, beetles are planted from palm branches, which in Egypt are as numerous in summer as flies in winter. The nastiest insects - lice - are almost inevitable in Egypt, even with exceptional cleanliness, but those who change linen every two or three days are of little concern, and if this happens, they do not affect the skin, crawling only into the linen from where they come from. easy to remove. You can almost completely protect yourself from flies if you often wash and sweep the floors, cover the doors and windows with nets, but it is impossible to clean the Egyptian house from beetles, especially if it, as often happens, has a lot of wooden products.
Male servants usually have a very easy life. The only exception is sais - a groom who runs ahead of his master or after him for several hours in a row and even at the very
hot weather shows no signs of fatigue. Most often servants are natives of Egypt. In Cairo and other cities, Nubians are sometimes taken into service, who usually act as a gatekeeper and are considered more honest than Egyptian servants. The salary of the servants is very small - from a dollar to two a month, but they receive many gifts. 30 . On holiday eid al fitr, after Ramadan, the master usually gives all his servants one or all of the toilet articles: irie(a blue shirt that serves as outerwear), a tarboush and a turban. With other clothing (sometimes with the exception of shoes), the servant must provide for himself. In addition to the master, small gifts of money are given to the servants by his guests, as well as by the merchants with whom he deals; this happens almost every time a servant is sent out for large purchases. Servants sleep in what they wear on small mats, and in winter they cover themselves with a cloak 31 or a blanket. In a sense, their relationship with the owners is often very familiar, they even laugh and joke together, but otherwise the servants are very submissive, in every possible way they express their deepest respect to their master and quite childishly, meekly endure corporal punishment from him.To black slaves (abid) males are treated softer than civilian servants; their way of life is quite consistent with their natural laziness. If a black slave is dissatisfied with his position, he can legally force his master to sell him. Many slaves in Egypt wear Turkish military uniform. This is the most fanatical part of the population, inclined to insult Christians and other Gentiles, although they themselves converted to Islam, knowing about its doctrines no more than a child who spent one week at school. Handmaids will be discussed in another chapter.
Acquaintance with the modern inhabitants of Egypt often leads us to compare their way of life with the way of life of medieval Europeans. However, perhaps when we are talking about men, we notice more similarities than differences, but in relation to women, we find the picture is just the opposite.
The ancient Egyptians are still one big mystery for modern scientists. Most Egyptologists consider them to be from Asia, citing the ancient Egyptian language, which belongs to the Semitic-Hamitic group, as confirmation of their correctness. A minority of researchers find the ancestors of the Egyptians in "Black" Africa.
It must be said that the artists ancient egypt pretty confused scientists, depicting the inhabitants of the country with different skin tones - from light brown to almost black. Herodotus, comparing the Egyptians, Ethiopians and Colchians, assumed that they are all related to each other, since their distinguishing feature- dark skin and curly hair.
One can only assume that Ancient Egypt, being a melting pot for many cultures and nations for thousands of years, did not form a homogeneous ethnic group, except perhaps for the descendants of the pharaohs, who maintained the purity of their blood. Over the centuries, many peoples "inherited" in Egypt, including the Assyrians, Libyans, Kushites, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Turks.
Not so long ago, German geneticists from the Max Planck Institute decided to check whether representatives of other states and peoples, including the soldiers of Alexander the Great who conquered Egypt, left their genetic mark in this country. For the study, the mitochondrial genome was taken from 90 mummies embalmed over a period of more than a thousand years.
Scientists have found that the studied genetic material has not undergone significant genetic changes, despite several migration waves from Europe, the Middle East and Africa. But here it is important to consider that this applies only to representatives upper caste to which the mummified belonged.
Scientists from Germany also determined that if modern Egyptians are genetically related to African peoples living south of the Sahara, then the samples of the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt reveal a greater genetic commonality with the population of the Middle East and the Levant. The influx of people from the interior of Africa began about 1300 years ago, along with the growth of the slave trade and migration waves caused by the Arab conquest of Egypt.
Currently, the direct descendants of the ancient Egyptians are considered to be the Copts - the Christian population of Egypt, not exceeding 7% of total number the inhabitants of the country. Despite the fact that Copts and Arabs belong to different ethnic groups, according to appearance it is almost impossible to tell them apart.
Back in 1908, one of the founders of French Egyptology, Gaston Maspero, speaking at the Ramesses Coptic Club, told its members that the Copts were the purest descendants of the ancient Egyptians. According to the scientist, Copts and Egyptian Muslims have the same roots, but due to a large number marriages with foreigners, the latter lost their ethnic purity.
The Copts, on the contrary, for many centuries sacredly kept the purity of their blood, not mixing with the newcomer Arabs. Copts still marry only once in their lives, not recognizing civil marriages and divorces.
The word "Copt" Greek origin(Αιγύπτιος - aigoptios) and is translated as "Egyptian". It is in the ancient Egyptian language that the language of modern Copts originates, he even managed to preserve the specifics inherent in the speech of the pharaohs.
At one time, Francois Champollion successfully used the modern Coptic language to decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. He considered this language the last stage in the development of the language of the ancient Egyptians. At the beginning of our era, the hieroglyphic writing gradually began to be replaced by the Greek alphabet, the language itself was modified, eventually turning into the one that the Copts speak today.
It should be noted that the population modern Egypt not as Arabized as previously thought. According to the latest data genetic research, about 80% of the population of the northern part of Egypt is genetically related in one way or another to the inhabitants of the ancient country of the pharaohs, in the southern regions of Egypt there are about 65% of such people.
Many peoples related to the ancient Egyptians live far from the banks of the Nile, primarily in the Middle East. As the closest genetic relatives of the ancient Egyptians, scientists call the Lebanese and Syrians.
A joint group of German scientists from the University of Tübingen and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, while studying the DNA of ancient Egyptian mummies, revealed a closely related relationship between the Egyptians and another eastern people - the Armenians. The same fact was confirmed by Egyptian scientists in the process of studying autosomal and Y-DNA markers of three pharaohs of the 18th dynasty: Amenhotep III, his son Akhenaten and grandson Tutankhamun.
However, these studies may also indicate that it was not the ancient Egyptians who contributed to genetic characteristics population of the Middle East and Transcaucasia, and vice versa, Egyptian pharaohs were of oriental origin.
One of the explanations for the Middle Eastern roots of the Egyptian pharaohs can be the invasion of the Hyksos, who penetrated into Ancient Egypt through the Armenian Highlands and conquered the Don in the 18th-16th centuries. e. part of the state up to the middle reaches of the Nile. They failed to conquer all of Egypt, but they probably greatly modified the genetic map of this country.
When the last pharaoh of Egypt fell and the country began to be torn apart by continuous attacks from aggressive neighboring countries, where did the local population disappear? Perhaps, in the period of time from the Roman conquests to the annexation of Egypt to the Muslim empires, it completely disappeared?
Copts are indigenous people Egypt and direct descendants of the Egyptians. They are one of the first Christians in the world and representatives of one of the most ancient branches of Christianity. This is precisely the population of Egypt, which for several thousand years created a great civilization.
Now the Copts are an excellent example of how Christianity and Islam can coexist in a close environment. Copts, despite the incessant attempts to assimilate, are still similar to the ancient Egyptians and still Christians. They observe not only faith, but also the purity of blood. A Coptic girl will never marry a non-Coptic. And Coptic boys don't marry Arab girls. And only occasionally do they marry European Christian women.
... SHOWED BY LONG-TERM DNA STUDIES
Calling an Egyptian an Arab is tantamount to a grave insult. "We are the descendants of the pharaohs and have nothing to do with the Arabs," the inhabitants of the Land of the Pyramids retort. However, they turned out to be almost right, and this was confirmed by many years of scientific research, the Egyptian Independent writes, citing data from a published study by the National Geographic Genographic Project.
For more than 10 years, scientists from National Geographic have been working to determine the genetic profile of every country in the world in order to establish the racial and ethnic origin of mankind. An analysis of the DNA of hundreds of indigenous Egyptians revealed that the descendants of the pharaohs correlate with the Arabs by only 17%. 68% of Egyptians are native Africans, more precisely, North Africans, whose blood was diluted over time by Jews (4%), East Africans (3%), Asians (3%) and Southern Europeans (3%).
According to experts, "the ancient population migrated from Africa, and their path ran through northeast Africa and then further to southwest Asia." The Northeastern and Arab components in Egypt appeared as a result of those migration flows, scientists are sure, as well as later migrants returned back to Africa with the spread of agriculture 10 thousand years ago, and already in the 7th century, with the spread of Islam, Arabs came here with Arabian Peninsula.
The East African components in Egyptian genetics became a reflection of the internal flows of movement towards the fertile Nile, and the appearance of South European and Asian elements is due to the role that Egypt played in its time in the economic and cultural development Mediterranean region.
According to the results of the study, Kuwaitis are the most Arabs: their DNA is 84% Arab, 7% Asian, 4% North African and 3% East African. "Middle Eastern blood", experts note, was also formed as a result of the migration of the population from Africa to Asia, when some people decided to stay and, thereby, laid the foundation for the genetic fund of the Arabs. Meanwhile, a small part of African blood, experts believe, could be the result of the slave trade in the VIII-XIX centuries.
As for the Lebanese, only half of them (44%) can be considered Arabs, 14% of them have Jewish blood, 11% of North African blood, and another 10% were added by Asian ancestors along with Europeans (5%) and immigrants from Eastern Europe. Africa (2%). To the least extent - only 4% - Tunisians can be called Arabs, in whose veins 88% of North African blood flows. It was diluted by 5% by people from Western Europe and 2% in West and Central Africa.
A bit of history
It can be considered a mistake that the acquaintance of the Egyptians with the Arabs occurred during the Arab conquest of Egypt in the seventh century. Cultural influence Egypt on the culture of Arabia is beyond doubt. In turn, from a very early time, the appearance in the Egyptian language of words borrowed from the inhabitants of the eastern deserts. The main route that linked Egypt with Arabia went through the Wadi al-Hammamat river, which began near Thebes and went to the Red Sea at al-Quseira. The Egyptians established contacts with the Bedouin tribes in the Sinai Peninsula in pre-dynastic times, when they purchased copper and turquoise from them. The pharaohs of the first dynasty already exploited the mines in Sinai themselves, subjugated the Bedouins living there, or simply negotiated with them.
The Arabian Peninsula was surrounded by steppes and deserts, turning it into a natural fortress, inaccessible to conquerors. No wonder the Arabs call it the Arabian Island. Limited living resources forced the population to migrate to neighboring countries. About once a millennium, the migration of Bedouin tribes took on a mass character. Settlers were sent either east to Mesopotamia, or to the regions of Syria and the Sinai Peninsula, beyond which lay the richest valley of the Nile.
In 24 BC, on the orders of the Roman emperor Augustus, the prefect of Egypt, Elius Gallus, equipped a military expedition to conquer Arabia. It included 10 thousand soldiers of Egypt, both the Egyptians themselves and the Romans and Greeks living in the country. The expedition also included allies: 10 thousand Nabataeans and 500 Jews. This was the first and last attempt by a European state to seize Inner Arabia. The exhausting campaign did not bring any results, and after a few months ended with a return to Egypt.
In 269-270, the victorious troops of Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, captured Egypt. According to historians, in order to win the sympathy of the Egyptians, Queen Zenobia spread rumors about her Egyptian origin. In any case, all historians agree that she was fluent in the Egyptian language.
Another brief episode from the history of the relationship between Arabs and Egyptians:
Already after the troops of Emperor Aurelian managed to defeat the Palmyrenes, anti-Roman uprisings took place almost simultaneously in Palmyra and Alexandria. This speaks of common interests Egyptians and Arabs in the fight against foreign invaders.
It was not uncommon for Arabs to live among Egyptians and vice versa. Arab historians report that the Egyptian Bakum, even before the advent of Islam, restored the Kaaba temple in Mecca, destroyed by a strong mudflow, and Jabr bin Abdallah al Qibty (i.e. Coptic), one of the closest associates of the Prophet Muhammad, was an Egyptian. The relationship between the Arabs and the Egyptians was influenced by the Prophet Muhammad himself. According to legend, he wished well to the Copts when his wife Maria gave birth to a son, who was named Ibrahim.
The leader of the Arab army, Amr ibn al-As, who conquered Egypt, was previously a merchant and repeatedly came to this country with his goods. He said: The population of Egypt is the noblest of all non-Arabs, the most generous and closest to kinship with the Arabs.
From all this it follows that the entry into Egypt under the banner of Islam of the Arab army in 640 was not an invasion of a hostile people. Since ancient times, the Arabs knew the Egyptians, and the Egyptians the Arabs. There were armed clashes between them, and long periods of peaceful trade, cultural and religious ties.
The conquest itself was peaceful. The head of the Coptic Church, which was subjected to severe persecution by the Byzantines, called on all Egyptians not to resist the new conquerors, whose number did not exceed 12 thousand (in a few decades there were already more than 80 thousand Arab soldiers in Egypt). Each governor appointed by the caliph to Egypt brought with him an army of several thousand people. Many warriors married Coptic women and remained forever in the Nile Valley. The Arabs were especially willing to settle in Upper Egypt, where they were attracted by the hot, dry climate and, of course, the fertility of the land.
Having conquered Egypt, the Arabs did not settle in pre-existing cities. Life in them was unusual for them. They pitched their military camp al-Fustat, near the fortress of Babylon. Gradually the camp turned into a capital. The camp remained the capital until 969. After the Fatimids they founded Cairo.
The first step in the Egyptianization of the Arabs and the Arabization of the Egyptians is the annual spring dispatch of Arab military detachments to various parts of the country to herd horses. A certain detachment was sent to a certain area, and this led to the establishment of strong ties with the local population. Warriors took root in these areas and gradually mixed with the local population. Interesting fact: an Arab sometimes married an Egyptian, but the opposite did not happen.
The mixing of Arabs and Coptic Egyptians was also facilitated by the fact that Egyptians were in most government positions (except for the highest, occupied by Arabs). Arab tribes, having settled in Egypt, moved to settled way life, and adopted from the indigenous people their life experience, customs and habits.
A few centuries later, most Egyptians converted to Islam, forgot their ancient language, and adopted Arabic. At present, in the Coptic language (already incomprehensible to the Copts for a long time), only a part of the services in the church are performed, but Arabic prevails here too. Copts, who make up a population of several million, are not a national minority in the country, which is sometimes said about them. IN ethnicity they belong to the Egyptian people, differing from the rest of the Egyptians only in religion.
The Copts belong to the Monophysites, that is, they believe that Christ had a single, divine essence, denying the fullness human nature Savior. The Coptic Church belongs to the eastern, Orthodox branch of Christianity, and in this sense, the Copts are very close to traditional Orthodoxy. But there are many differences between Orthodoxy and Egyptian Christianity, both in theology and in traditions.
The population of Egypt is more than 77 million people, and this country does not know demographic problems: the birth rate exceeds the death rate by almost five times. True, this is the merit of a by no means perfect healthcare system (it is formally free, but it is better to be treated in commercial clinics, in state-owned surgeons, for example, they received the nickname "butchers"), and even more so high income Egyptians, the secret lies in the usual for Arab countries large families. However, in fairness, it should be noted that the rather high average duration life: 68 years for men and 73 for women.
Some gloss of influence international culture, and, possibly, the colonial past is noticeable in the clothes of employees.
Probably, ties and jackets are mandatory for all kinds of office workers, as well as employees travel companies, by the nature of their service faced with foreigners. However, this rule usually does not apply to bus drivers or guides.
Ordinary residents major cities, if we talk about the representatives of the stronger sex, they dress in general as usual for the Western eye: jeans, shirts, jackets, light jackets ...
By the way, there are only three really large cities with a population of more than a million people in Egypt: the capital Cairo, El Giza, which is closely adjacent to it, and also has an unofficial status cultural capital Alexandria.
School education is free, although parents who are able to do so try to enroll their children in paid schools. educational establishments. System higher education differs from what we are accustomed to, studying at universities takes an average of three to four years, although doctors, if I am not confusing anything, have more.
The pride of the modern Egyptians is the genealogy, on occasion they like to emphasize that they are descended from the great builders of the grandiose pyramids and majestic temples, whose state reached the dawn long before the first cities appeared in Europe. In fact, of course, the direct descendants (as far as this term is generally allowed in the correct cauldron of many nationalities) of the inhabitants of Ancient Egypt are only some Copts, who make up only a small proportion of general population countries. The ancestors of the rest are the Arab conquerors who poured into Egypt in the 7th century. To be fair, it should be noted that Byzantine emperors in the previous fight against the Arian heresy, they were so zealous that the Mediterranean coast of Africa was fairly depopulated; thus the most favorable conditions were created for an invasion from Arabia.
National minorities now also include Bedouins, Berbers, Nubians and Circassians, whose number in total does not exceed 2% of the country's population. As far as I know, there are no clashes on this ground in Egypt, if anyone causes problems, it is the radical Islamists.
The fact that Egypt is a Muslim state (Sunni Islam is professed) and not entirely secular (although the legislation is based on much more from the Napoleonic code, Sharia norms are also incorporated into it), is immediately evident, if only from the fact that the vast majority of women wear hijabs - light head scarves.
One of the guides gave a whole speech about the advantages of the position of the fair sex in Egypt. Like, no emancipation, women are cared for and cherished, they are literally carried in their arms. Well, if some person suddenly does not want to live according to Sharia law, she is always free to take off her hijab and start living according to secular laws. At the same time, the guide listed the names of women holding prominent positions in the state apparatus of Egypt, and even turned out to be so savvy that he called Russian ministers the weaker sex. The comparison, of course, turned out to be in favor of the Islamic country.
Very young people also wear headscarves, except for little girls.
According to the existing canon, it is required not only to wear a hijab, but also to cover the shoulders, arms and, of course, the legs. I don't think it's very comfortable in hot weather. However, Egyptian men, as can be seen in the pictures, do not wear shorts.
However, youth and flirtatiousness take their toll - girls try to dress fashionably. Now, it seemed to me, slightly flared jeans are popular, over which they wear long sweaters or short dresses.
school trip. These are just babies, and girls don't wear headscarves yet.
While lightly dressed Europeans and Russians photographed the Sphinx and the pyramids, these high school girls sometimes secretly, and sometimes quite openly, photographed tourists as much more exotic.
And this is already a veil - so to speak, a radical form of Islamic women's clothing. The guide mentioned above, by the way, spoke sharply negatively about this phenomenon, emphasizing that a truly firm woman in faith would not dress like that, only carried away by the false currents of Islam.
By the way, in Cairo or Giza, such pictures were relatively rare for me, for example, I took this picture in Luxor.
By the absence of a veil and crosses on the chest, an elderly woman and a girl standing on the left are unmistakably identified as Christians. The share of Orthodox among the country's population is about 5% (there are still a few Catholics). In general, I rarely saw women without headscarves in Egypt.
The guides discussed the topic of incomes of the population very reluctantly. Their answers boiled down mainly to the formula that sounded like a spell: "Egypt is a rich country, only our rulers are thieves." By God, the analogies here speak for themselves. :)
The most patriotic guide (Mahmud-Aziz, whom I already talked about in the album about) preferred to make speeches about how good life is for scientists here: a salary of three thousand dollars a month, and a lot of benefits, including an annual week-long vacation in the resorts of Hurghada or Sharm El Sheikh. Another guide grudgingly admitted that many earn less than a hundred dollars a month, especially residents countryside and small towns.
Frankly, I got the impression that for many, even the announced $100 bar is more than desirable. However, I have not seen reliable statistics in this regard.
It is curious that all the guides spoke very contemptuously about the fellah peasants, who often come to the cities to earn money and walk in an archaic-looking national long shirt (galabey).
I even took this street vendor for a European. And although his skin color is unusually light, his facial features are rather local. As I was told, it is most likely an albino.
In the Egyptian provinces, a lot of men go in galabeys, not necessarily only peasants.
Often such robes are used as a uniform by small servants such as watchmen at excursion sites. At the same time, they often try to earn extra money by offering tourists to take pictures of themselves for money against the backdrop of old temples or tombs. Probably, they console themselves with the hope that in the entourage they are able to replace the ancient Egyptians not badly.
The Bedouins, who are not allowed into the territory of the Orthodox monastery of St. Catherine near, are trying to sell guidebooks and some souvenirs to tourists through the fence.
The vast majority of Egyptians live in the Nile Valley, where the population density exceeds 1,700 people per square kilometer.
At the same time, no more than 2% of the population of Egypt lives in the deserts covering most of the country's territory, and there is less than one person per square kilometer.
Veranda cafe on the west bank of the Nile near Luxor. In general, I would not call the Egyptians the people of idlers (many are forced to work in several places), but the fact that they do not like to work hard is a fact. And most of all, in my opinion, they are hindered by inattention to trifles, which is manifested literally in everything: in clothes, houses, the quality of work ...
However, even poor fellahis use mobile telephony with might and main.
Egypt's main sources of government revenue are proceeds from shipping in the Suez Canal, the sale of raw materials abroad (mainly oil) and tourism. Nevertheless Agriculture still plays a huge role in the country's economy, and there is a serious struggle for the possession of fertile land.
Innocent children's fun on a village street.
Let Egypt import wheat, vegetables and fruits, on the contrary, it exports. Prices for local agricultural products, even in tourist places, are quite low. Let's say a kilogram of good strawberries costs 10 pounds, that is, less than two dollars. At the same time, the prices in stores for all kinds of chocolates, sweets and other trifles can amaze even a foreigner, and we are not talking about the shops of Sharm el-Sheikh or Hurghada, where all shame has long been forgotten, but about minimarkets at gas stations along the main highways of the country. I suspect that the price tags there are in a hurry for solvent demand, because fellahs do not travel between cities in their personal cars.
Meanwhile, in the outback and in stores only for the local population, I'm sure everything is very cheap. Egypt is an expensive country, except for tourists, and then in crowded places of the latter.
Trunks: both on the roof of the car, on the head of a woman ... However, for the spine, a vertical axial load is probably preferable to an asymmetric one.
Street seller of cakes. Fried, they looked so tempting that I could hardly restrain myself from buying them. Mainly I was stopped not by thoughts about unsanitary conditions, but by the almost one hundred percent probability that the merchant, at the sight of a tourist, will bend the price ten times that way.
Souvenir seller. With these comrades, one must keep an acute ear, since they like to deceive here, in particular, to sell under the guise of silver jewelry jewelry, etc. In general, the abundance of tourist clients, it seems to me, spoils the representatives of any nation. Even in China, the farther from the border with Russia, the better attitude to the Russians (take the same one near Khabarovsk - very case in point). In tourist places in Egypt, tourists are perceived solely as wallets with legs. This phenomenon is of such a large scale that it causes many foreigners to have an acute dislike for the entire local population indiscriminately.
Meanwhile, I have heard that people in the Egyptian hinterland are completely different: much more friendly, and their friendliness is usually devoid of the selfish component that has entered tourist folklore. There, the traveler can give a lift for free and even feed him lunch, already satisfied with the very fact of meeting a foreigner.
I happened to observe similar altruism in Sharm el-Sheikh, when a gardener (by the way, an intelligent-looking young man with glasses) on the street gave beautiful girl flower (at first she even denied, believing that this was an attempt to get money).
By the way, it is easy to explain yourself in Egypt without knowing Arabic in the light of the colonial past mentioned above. Common in educated circles French, even more people, and from different layers society, speak English to some extent. It seems that both of these languages are even included in the compulsory school curriculum. In tourist places, it is easy to meet Egyptians who speak Russian: they have long learned the laws of competition and the strange reluctance of many tourists from Russia to master foreign dialects.
Street cleaner. However, I’d better talk about the situation with garbage on the streets of Egyptian cities and the environment another time, when I show Cairo and El Giza. In about the Egyptians, I will mainly touch on transport issues, including public transport, and law enforcement.
