Ancient Egyptian Culture

Meeting Etiquette:

Greetings are based on both class and the religion of the person. It is best to follow the lead of the Egyptian you are meeting. Handshakes are the customary greeting among individuals of the same sex.

Once a relationship has developed, it is common to kiss on one cheek and then the other while shaking hands, men with men and women with women. In any greeting between men and women, the woman must extend her hand first. If she does not, a man should bow his head in greeting.

The Fellahin:

The rural peasants provided the pharaohs with both the manpower to build their majestic monuments and the food to support the workers. Even today, the fallahin wrest two or three crops from their tiny fields in a futile attempt to feed Egypt’s ever-expanding population. These farmers live in small villages, often settled by their Pharaonic ancestors, scattered along the Nile.

Egyptian Villages:

Most of the inhabitants live in mud-brick homes, their thick walls insulating against the afternoon heat. Flat roofs, exposed to the northern evening breezes, serve as cool sleeping quarters as well as storage areas. Villagers plaster the outer walls and often trim them in blue, a color they believe wards off the evil eye.

As a man becomes richer, he can add a second story to his house perhaps for his married son. Those villagers who have made the journey to Mecca paint the legend of their trip on the outer walls of their homes. Such hajj houses, along with the mosques, are the most distinguished buildings in a village.

The government sponsored building programs have also brought newer style residences and utilities to some villages, particularly those outside the Nile Valley in the Oases and the Red Sea coastal areas.

Family Life:

Egyptians dote on their children, who as they grow up quickly, take on adult duties. The boys do the outside jobs like looking after the sheep and farming while the girls learn to do all the house chores like cooking keeping the house clean etc.

In Egyptian extended families, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all feel clan obligations, and these ties unite them in good times and bad. And these bonds of blood are still very strong in Egypt.

Dress:

Outside her home, a married woman traditionally wears a black outer dress over her brightly colored housedress and covers her hair with a long veil, which often sweeps the ground behind her. She wears her dowry of gold necklaces and silver bracelets and anklets, insurance against poverty if her husband divorces her or she becomes widowed.

Her husband dresses in a long robe (galabayya), cotton in summer and wool in winter. He often covers his head with a scarf wound like a turban and in the winter adds a wool jacket. The robes of both sexes cover the entire body, but their looseness allows a cooling circulation of air and serves as insulation.

Food:

A peaceful quiet settles over the mud-brick houses as families gather for their evening meal. Village women once spent much of their lives cooking, but today, they are equal partners in relationships and take a growing and active role in society (In Culture). They bake their aysh (bread) in clay ovens of ancient pattern, making both an unleavened type and aysh shams (sun bread), which they set in the sun to rise.

The main meal consist of rice, full beans, and vegetables. For special occasions (if meat is available), they will fix fattah, a dish with layers of bread, rice, and meat seasoned with vinegar and garlic and garnished with yogurt and nuts. The fallahin eat with bread rather than knives and forks, tearing the round loaf into finger-sized portions and dipping them into the serving dishes.

Feasts:

On festival days, a village is anything but quiet. To celebrate the mulid (saint’s day) of the village, the entire population turns out; the children sample the carnival rides and the adults visit, watch horse races, and take part in the rituals.

During weddings, the village women decorate the bride with designs of henna, and after the wedding, whole villages accompany the bride and groom to their new home. The village women work together to prepare the ornate meals that accompany these celebrations. Isolation is inconceivable in an Egyptian village.

The are the few aspects of the rich Egyptian culture which is mixture of the past traditions and customs and also which has embraced the modern way of life. This is what sets apart the Egyptian culture from the rest of the world and maybe one of the attractions for the tourists.