Christmas for all
EGYPT'S Coptic Christians had more to celebrate this Christmas than just the birth of Christ. Tuesday was the first time a Christian holiday was also officially recognised as a national holiday. In the past, only Copts got to take the day off for Christmas, while the rest of Egypt worked as usual, unlike Muslim feasts which are official holidays for the entire country.
President Hosni Mubarak issued a decree last month declaring 7 January an official holiday. Mubarak's son Gamal, the chairman of the Policy Secretariat of the ruling National Democratic Party, also attended, for the first time, and amidst applause, a Christmas Eve mass. Mubarak was accompanied by the president's chief political advisor, Osama El-Baz and chief of staff, Zakaria Azmi.
Head of the Coptic Church Pope Shenouda III officiated the service Monday night at the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Abbasiya, where he thanked Mubarak for his presence and President Mubarak for decreeing that 7 January was a national holiday.
"It's a decision which is in keeping with religious sayings," Shenouda said. "It is written in the Qur'an that the Virgin Mary is the favourite among women." On Christmas day, Pope Shenouda welcomed a host of official and religious figures at the cathedral, prominent amongst whom were Prime Minister Atef Ebeid and the Grand Imam of Al- Azhar Mohamed Sayed Tantawi.
