A joyful encounter with the desert people of Egypt
Image by ©M o c c a . CHOCOLATA via Flickr
Forty-five tribes have populated Egypt’s deserts for millennia and yet their existence remains a mystery to the country’s urban masses. The Characters of Egypt Festival aims to showcase their ways of life. The aim of the festival is to provide a meeting opportunity for representatives of the various tribes that have inhabited different corners of Egypt’s deserts for thousands of years without previously encountering one another. Injy El-Kashef was there with his son Yassine.
“By the end of our stay Yassine and I were revived. I was purified from my urban burdens, and filled with the joy that only comes from experiencing genuine life. My son, whose expanding curiosity about the world we inhabit was satiated by the incredible amount of information he processed while having fun, has now learned about traditions, camel riding, fire- making, track reading, plants, astrology, and, most importantly in such speedily globalising times, about diversity. He has sung with the Nubians, eaten the Ababda’s food, heard the poetry of Sinai, balanced on the dancing poles of Siwa, jumped rope with the Farafraweya and prayed with the Bishariya for rain.”
Abdeit bism elli ala al alam rageeb
Ya khaleg al ensan min teenen rateeb
Wi khaleg al jannat l’eshhab al habib
Wi khalagt elli wogoudha nass wi hajar
Al khatawi elli megassemha al kareem
Wel hagawi besaheb al arsh al azeem
Wi a’oudhou berrahman min sharr al rajeem
Westakhert Allah wi naweit al safar
Min ard Sina elli biha esht wi radeit
Wi shebe’t fiha min al maaani wertaweit
Wi katabt beit al she’r yom enni naweit
Ajabel wojouh al nashama wabtesher
Ehna doyouf Allah fi Marsa Alam
Fiha rajal, fiha hayaa, fiha karam
Wi fiha osoud yeshhad lahom hebr al galam
Wi yeshhad lahom seif al maragel fil khatar
Wi magsoum li fi rehleti aaref naas
Min sobou’ al badeya khayr al jenas
Yengedou koll el maani bel ehsas
Wakhoss nasen tefham bebo’d al nazar
Wi taheyya lel sho’aar fi yom al sebagI begin, in the name of He who watches over the pen,
O Creator of man from damp clay
And Creator of Heaven for the Prophet’s companions
And Creator of that the men of which are fuel.
Steps are divined by the Provider,
And supplications are raised to the God of the Throne,
The Merciful is my shield against the Devil’s evil.
I prayed for Allah’s guidance intending on travel
From the land of Sinai whence my content living,
Where I have wandered and quenched my thirst.
I wrote these verses the day I sought
To meet the faces of brave men and rejoice.
We are Allah’s guests in Marsa Alam
Where we found manhood, grace and generosity,
Lions, to which attest the ink of our pens
And the chances of valor in menace;
I am destined to encounter on my travel
Lions among the Bedouins, finest of races,
Safeguarding values with their passion.
To the foresighted I dedicate my words,
And salute the poets on this day of match.The above lines are by Sinai’s tribesman Haj Hussein Eid, winner of the Characters of Egypt poetry award.
Extract from an article by Injy El-Kashef for Al-Ahram Weekly
A celebration of Egyptian tribal heritage, nature and cultural diversity
(Photo by Charles Domingue)
Despite the fact that approximately 300,000 people from 45 tribes lead a nomadic existence in Egypt, according to Founder of the EDPS Walid Ramadan, they are almost always forgotten. Marginalized and misperceived, these tribes continue to uphold and develop their unique value systems and traditions, formed in the unforgiving beauty of their desert environment.
The brainchild of Wadi Environmental Science Centre (WESC) and the Egyptian Desert Pioneers Society (EDPS) the “Characters of Egypt” festival (Oct. 29-31) is a three-day extravaganza celebrating the cultural heritage of tribes from seven desert areas of Egypt: Siwa and Farafra from the Western Desert, North and South Sinai, Nubia, and the Eastern and Southern Deserts which stretch from Marsa Allam to Alba Mountain.
Held in the pristine Fustat Wadi El Gemal National Park, 45 km south of Marsa Allam on the Red Sea, this first cultural event of its kind will showcase the diversity of fauna and flora in the area and the intricacy of tribal costumes and jewelry. Attendees will also learn how to shadow-read, navigate the desert and will participate with the tribesmen in a variety of activities including music, dance, poetry, sports, games, food tasting, a camel race, educational lectures on the tribes and the environment.
To learn more, visit www.charactersofegypt.com
Source: Daily News Egypt
