Issue No.588
Culture
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30 May - 5 June 2002 Issue No.588 Culture |
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Plain talk
It has become something of a habit for me to refer to Lane's Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians. Reading through Lane is like being led by an experienced guide through the intricate structures of the city -- not only the districts, the streets and lanes, the houses and palaces, but also the history, the customs, the festivals and rites of the 1830s. No wonder his Manners has become a classic.
When I decided to write about moulid al-nabi (The birthday of the Prophet, which was celebrated last week in cities, towns and villages throughout Egypt) I automatically picked up Lane, who provides an informative account of the celebration.
The principal scene of the festival was, in the old days, the days of which Lane writes, the southwest quarter of the large open space called Birkat Al- Ezbekiya, almost the whole of which, according to Lane, became a lake during the season of inundation. In this quarter several large tents (called geewans) were pitched; mostly for darawish (dervishes), who every night, during the festival, assembled in them to perform zikr.
During the day time the people assembled at the principal scene of the festival were "amused by shaers (or reciters of the romance of Aboo Zeyd), conjurers, buffoons etc."
"The Ghawazee," writes Lane, "have lately been compelled to vow repentance, and to relinquish their profession of dancing: consequently there are now none of them at the festival. These girls used to be among the most attractive of all performers."
There were swings and whirligigs and stalls for the sale of sweetmeats. At night the streets were lighted with many candles and torches which were mostly hung in lanterns of wood: numbers of shops and stalls "stocked with eatables, chiefly sweetmeats, are open during almost the whole of the night, and so, too, are the coffee shops; at some of which, as well as in other places shaers or mohaddits amuse the persons who choose to stop and listen to their recitations."
And there was still more entertainment.
Every night, an hour or more after midnight, processions of darwish passed through the quarter but instead of bearing flags, as they did in the day, they carried long staves with a number of lamps attached to the upper part.
On the last two nights -- incidentally the festival lasted for 12 nights, recalling the 12 days of Christmas -- the festival attracted much larger crowds and the entertainments were consequently more spectacular. This being the 11th night of the lunar month, "the moon was high, and enlivened the scenes of festivity."
Lane then goes on to describe in detail the zikr of Souq Al-Bakri where there was suspended a very large "negefeh (a chandelier or rather a number of chandeliers, chiefly of glass, one below another, placed in such a manner that they appeared but one) containing about two or three hundred kandeels (or small glass lamps)." Lane gives many such small details in all his writing, details which bring the past to vivid life.
Lane goes on to describe what the performers of the zikr chant, and then furnishes an outline of what the muwashahat sang.
He gives us a translation of one of these muwashahat, which are given by "the munshids" or reciters. Lane believes that there were similarities between the words of the muwashah and "song of Solomon" in the Bible. He makes an interesting comparison, especially with the second and five following verses of the fifth chapter of the Song of Solomon. But this is a question for specialists to argue about.
Going through these vivid descriptions of the moulid and other festivities we can surmise that our forefathers truly knew how to amuse themselves.
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