Egyptian Customs are bound to have a preponderance in any society which is guided by religion. In ancient Egypt, religious ties were strong and supernatural forces were to be worshipped and pleased. Each force was represented by a god. Some of the gods included Hapi, god of the Nile; Ra, the sun god; and Osiris, god of the underworld.

Men and Women’s Contributions to Society

egyptian-customsSociety treated men and women as more or less equally. A woman was respected because of her child bearing capacity and contributions to family life. Children often had to inherit the occupations of their fathers. Mostly, they stayed with parents until marrying age; 14 or 15 for girls and 19 or 20 for boys.Scribes were the few people of Egypt who were literate. Sons of the nobles and the wealthy went to the schools. Girls were not sent to schools. They were to stay at home and indulge in household activities. Only girls from very wealthy families learned to read and write.

Unreal Egyptian Customs

Unreal Egyptian Customs was associated with belief in an afterlife. To reach the afterlife, they believed that the bodies were to be preserved by mummification. They removed soft organs, including the brain, and stored them with preservative herbs, spices, and oils in jars.

egyptian-customs

It was thought that the bodies must be protected in large tombs complete with all the necessities of life, including furniture, eating utensils, food, beverages and other items for use in the afterlife.

The Egyptian belief about good and bad deeds is similar to the modern belief about heaven and hell. After a person died, his heart was weighed by the goddess of Ma’at, against one of her feathers. Anubis, the god of embalming, watched the scales as Thoth, god of writing, recorded the results. If the weight of the heart balanced the feather, the dead entered the afterlife.

Priestly Office

Egyptian women could not hold priestly office. Egyptian customs were reversed to the ordinary practices of mankind. Egyptian priests shaved their heads unlike in other cultures where they grew their hair.In writing and calculating, Egyptians went from right to left instead of left to right. The ordinary practice at sea is to make sheets fast to ring-bolts fitted outboard; the Egyptians fit them inboard.

Women attended market and are employed in trade, while men stay at home and do the weaving. In weaving the normal way is to work the threads of the weft upwards, but the Egyptians work them downwards. Men in Egypt carry loads on their heads, women on their shoulders; women pass water standing up, men sitting down.

Marriage Egyptian Customs

Marriage customs of ancient Egyptians are quite interesting. Marriage was a universal institution in Egypt. Many of the old marriage contracts have been found, and they were registered and signed by three officers. The couple had a lot of chances to get to know each other before the engagement.

Engagement Egyptian Customs

The engagement customs began by the suitor’s parents visiting to his fiancée’s house to get her family approval to complete this marriage and reaching an agreement, which contains two main items: an amount of money, called Mahr, paid by suitor to his fiancée’s family to help them prepare the furniture of their daughter and a valuable jewellery gift, called Shabka, given by the suitor to his fiancée.

When the house of the new family became ready, the two families fixed an appointment of the wedding party. The “Henna Night” was celebrated the night before the wedding. On the day of the wedding, the marriage contract was signed and registered by a priest in the temple in the attendance of the couple and most of their families and friends. After sun set was the wedding party.