21 - 27 February 2002
Issue No.574
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 21 - 27 February 2002 Issue No.574 |
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Festive memories
In my childhood I spent Eid Al-Adha in more than one place: in Gamaliya, where I was born; in Abbasiya, where we subsequently moved; and in many various parts of Cairo and Alexandria. Yet the memory of the Eid during childhood is still bound up with Gamaliya, that age- old neighbourhood where my consciousness was initially formed.
When I was a little older and began to acquire a sense of history, the people of Gamaliya walking through the alleyways and going about their lives, buying and selling and celebrating their feasts, became to me a living part of history. They were themselves the Fatimids, and in their midst walked Jawhar "the Sicilian," who built Cairo over a thousand years ago. Among them, too, was the leader Badr Al-Gamali, who built this neighbourhood and after whom it was named. The Fatimids are the ones who taught Egyptians to celebrate the Eid and the other feasts like the Prophet's anniversary.
As for Eid Al-Adha, I used to observe its various joyful manifestations even before I was allowed out on the street. I would watch the sacrificial slaughters at dawn, peering through the mashrabiya at Beit Al-Qadi Square, that quiet plot of land studded with trees. I would watch the decorations and the various celebratory activities, to which I myself would begin to contribute before too long. Indeed, there is absolutely nothing in the world that compares to Eid Al-Adha in Gamaliya.
Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.
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