Egyptian Culture. The Writer Explores

¶ … Egyptian culture. The writer explores the food, family life, and music, spiritual and other elements of Egyptian culture.

The Culture of Modern Egypt

While the western culture is relatively new when compared to the history and age of mankind, the Egyptian culture dates back more than 5,000 years and is filled with traditions that have been handed down through many hundreds of generations. The culture, though quickly become more western in its imported products and foods has held fast to its core values and traditions.

Before one can begin to understand modern Egyptian culture it is important to understand the roots that it was built on. Modern Egypt was founded in the long ago traditions of Egyptian pharaohs and a polytheistic system of faith.

Coptic Christianity became popular in the Roman and Byzantine periods, and Egypt was indeed one of the strongest early Christian communities. Today, Christians constitute about 10% of the population. Islam in Egypt came to the country with the successors of the Prophet Muhammed, and is today the dominant faith with 90% of the population adherents, almost all of the Sunni denomination (Egyptian Culture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Egypt)."

Egypt was one of the first modern civilizations in the world to discover the ability to codify art design elements.

In addition, the contributions to the field of art, science and mathematics have significantly helped society move forward in those area.

One of those contributions was from an ancient era scientist named Eratosthenes who was the first to measure the circumference of the earth's surface. He was also the first to measure the distance between the sun and the earth.

In recent history the traditions and culture of Egypt have become a blended combination of the ancient and the modern with a flavor of Western and European touches thrown in. Today the culture of Egypt is a delightful combination of the best elements of the past that embrace modern ideas when they don't interfere with core beliefs.

Children

In any country people look to the children as the future of that society, and Egyptian children are viewed no differently.

Modern day Egyptian children share a lot of common bonds with their American counterparts.

Children in Egypt are required to attend school, obey their parents and work toward becoming productive adults in Egyptian society (Harris, 2005).

Egyptian children are raised from a young age to appreciate and value comedy. During the most well-known religious celebration in modern Egyptian culture, Ramadan, children watch much more television than during the rest of the year as during this time specialized programming featuring many comedy shows are run 24 hours a day.

Children in Egypt are very into sports including soccer.

Egyptian children are cherished and coddled for the most part and they are an integral part of the family. They are not expected to sit quietly as adults maneuver through life, but they are embraced and encouraged to share that journey with their parents and other loved ones.

The children of Egypt are required to cover their shoulders with what they wear and for girls the skirts are expected to come to the knee because of the religious customs. When they go out on weekends they are able to wear more western styled clothing to the club as it is considered dressing up for fun (Harris, 2005).

The public school system is based on the British system and students remain in class while the teachers rotate all day long. Clique groups in the school systems of Egypt are almost non-existent as compared to American student habits. Everybody simply hangs out together as a large group. The school year begins in September and ends in June and the students are very independent expecting almost no help with homework or study from their parents. Most families in Egypt plan one trip a year outside of the country. Travel is an important part of Egyptian culture.

One of the more significant differences between Egyptian and American families is that Egyptian children and teens do not work. Their spare time is used to help the family by watching younger siblings while parents go out, or helping out with small chores at the family business. For the most part Egyptian teens are not allowed to work outside the family (Harris, 2005).

Families who are fortunate to own a building will dwell on different floors within that building. This makes the close proximity of extended family, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles, something that is different from Western culture (Harris, 2005)."

In Egypt, teens can get their license at the age of 16 but can only drive in town and they are not allowed on the highways. At 18 they get a new license with unrestricted access to roads and times for driving (Harris, 2005).

The drinking age is 21 in Egypt and is strictly enforced by the authorities. Underage drinking is forbidden by religious custom, as well as by Egyptian law. Alcohol is strictly regulated, and the law authorities are always on the look out for underage drinking (Harris, 2005)."

Food

Egyptian food is a blend of spices and foods that are easily grown in the dry desert climate.

While the hotels and larger restaurants offer western cuisine the true flavor of Egyptian food can be found in the homes and small corner shops throughout the nation.

The meats of Egypt are grilled or slow roasted and lamb and chicken are the mainstays of most families (Carta, 2005).

Shish kabob is a popular dish as is pita bread.

Tomatoes are extremely popular in Egyptian cuisine and chopping it with coriander, mint, and green hot peppers is a popular side dish.

Other veggies that grow well and show up all the time include beans, mostly chick pea and fava, which are eaten stewed for breakfast, hearty stewed for lunch and dinner and ground and pasted for tahini and hummus with great amounts of garlic (Carta, 2005)."

Eggplant is another very popular food in Egypt and is often served with a mild white cheese. Rice is a universally loved food that comes in many varieties.

One of the delicacies in Egypt is grilled pigeon (Carta, 2005).

Marriage Customs

Marriage in Egypt is an important ritual, as Egyptians were the first society to recognize marriage as a legal union many years ago.

In Egypt a marriage ceremony is festive and blending of old and new traditions. In rural areas it is still customary to not let the younger daughter marry until the older ones have wed but in the urban areas that custom no longer exists.

Weddings take place in a Mosque or church depending on the faith of the couple getting married. The reception following the wedding is a festive party with music, dancing and food (El-Bialy, 2005).

The wedding starts with a car parade and the cars honk as they are maneuvered through town to announce that someone is getting married. Once the parade arrives they are greeted by a human parade of belly dancers and drummers who surround the couple and sing songs as they make their way into the Mosque.

The bride and groom will occasionally join in the dancing but the main aim is to walk as slowly as possible to the wedding hall. Some Zaffa's will last an hour (El-Bialy, 2005)!"

The couple is then seated in front of the guests and are treated like a king and queen holding court over their subjects (wedding guests) (El-Bialy, 2005).

The couple exchanges rings and then the reception begins with dancing, food and singing.

In rural areas, after the Zaffa, the wedding ceremony will usually take place in a big clearing of land where a huge Arabic tent called the "Sewan" is set up. Entertainment includes a belly dancer or singer and sometimes both. Drinks are passed to guests and food comes in huge plates to be served to guests. The customary food is "Fattah" which is pieces of lamb meat embedded in rice and bread dipped in stew. The bride and groom will leave the wedding early but the guests continue the festivities (El-Bialy, 2005)."

Celebrations

There are two significant holidays in Egypt, Eamadan and Eid al Fitr.

The first holiday is Ramadan which is when the Muslims fast for a month to cleanse their system and display their spiritual faith. Once the fast is over they celebrate Eid al Fitr which is the first day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar (Osama, 2004).