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In January 1999, I had the terrific opportunity to accompany
Morocco on a 2-week trip to Cairo. It was my very first time
visiting Egypt. Thanks to her generosity in sharing her knowledge
gained from many years of traveling there, I got much more out
of the trip than I would have traveling there on my own.
While there, we managed to get invited to two weddings that
were held in one of the baladi neighborhoods of Cairo. On this
page, I have posted the pictures I took at one of them along
with a description of what I observed.
I was a little disappointed that neither of these weddings
featured the tradition of having a female soloist perform with
the shamadan (candelabrum). But there was plenty of other entertainment
that was great fun to watch.
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Let me start by saying that the Egyptian people we met at
both weddings were very warm and very hospitable. They made us
strangers feel very welcome, and they have left me feeling a
true sense of friendship toward the Egyptian people as a whole.
This wedding was on Thursday, January 21, 1999. Thursday is
the most popular evening for weddings in Egypt because the next
day, Friday, is the day that people go to the mosques for their
weekly religious observances. That means that most people don't
have to go to work on Fridays, and therefore Thursday evening
is an ideal time for a celebration. |
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Earlier in that evening, we had gone to a show at the Ramses
Hilton. Upon returning to our own hotel around 11:00 p.m., we
heard very loud drumming coming from an alley behind it.
We poked our heads around the corner to see what was happening.
As soon as we were noticed, we were energetically beckoned to
come in and join the festivities. The alley was decorated, as
shown in these pictures, with lights draped overhead. The musicians
were wearing bright red and blue uniforms, and the drummers were
playing with great enthusiasm! It was a very festive atmosphere.
It was interesting to go back a couple of days later and see
just an empty alley with some cars parked in it. What a change! |
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When we arrived, the zeffa was in progress. A zeffa is the
part of a wedding celebration when the bride and groom enter
the reception hall in a procession and take their seats on thrones
to preside over the evening. While the bride and groom watch,
they are entertained by music and dancing.
At this particular zeffa, the entertainers were all young
men. This was true of musicians and dancers alike.
This picture, to the left, shows the lovely bride sitting
on her throne. The groom's throne was just to her left. |
After coming forward to congratulate the bride and groom,
we looked for a place to sit on the sidelines where we could
watch the show. Our very gracious hosts quickly found chairs
for us to sit next to the mother of the bride and her friends.
We had a great view of the dancing from there.
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The music consisted primarily of a very heavy drum beat, played
on the tabla baladi. The dancers were a troupe of about half
a dozen young men who performed various folkloric dances. They
did a tahtib (stick) dance (not easy in the narrow confines of
that alley, but they did it well!), a martial sword dance with
wooden swords (which were not balanced on their heads
at any time during the act!), and some additional dances. Unfortunately,
I didn't get any photographs of these dances because I was too
busy just watching! It was only my second night in Cairo, and
my photojournalistic streak had not yet recovered from the jet
lag.
One of the "characters" in the zeffa was a pair
of young men in a horse costume, which can be seen making its
way behind the bride and groom in this picture to the right.
This horse pranced up and down through the alley a few times.
It was hilarious, and made me wish I had a camcorder with me! |
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The children were very cute! Once we had seated ourselves
to enjoy the zeffa, one of the boys who looked like he was maybe
about 9 or 10 years old came up to us and asked, "Do you
speak English?" His accent was excellent, so he obviously
was learning his lessons well in school. He was delighted when
we said that we did!
Then a little girl, who might have been his sister, got the
courage to come up to us and ask, "What's your name?"
She asked each of us in turn, so we each introduced ourselves
and asked her what her name was. She was Aiyah. (I'm just guessing
at how it might have been spelled.) She enjoyed talking with
us so much that she then made a second trip down the row and
asked each of us again, "What's your name?" And then
again, and again. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I believe
she probably asked me my name about ten times! We later referred
to her fondly as the "What's your name?" girl. I have
to give her credit though--she knew more English than I knew
Arabic!
After the professional dancers completed their part of the
entertainment, the musicians continued to play. This was an opportunity
for those guests who wished to get up and dance or just enjoy
sitting and listening.
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At one point, a young couple came along and plopped their
baby into my lap. As I was trying to figure out what was going
on, they smiled broadly at me, took a couple of steps back and
took a picture of me holding the baby. I guess my blonde hair
and blue eyes were enough of a novelty to make me not just an
observer, but something worth remembering!
Pictured here to the left are the mother of the bride (seated)
and one of her friends. The friend enjoyed pointing out that
she and I both had blonde hair. At one point, she borrowed a
scarf from the bride's mother, tied it about her hips, and began
to dance to the music. After doing this for a while, she started
to eye her fellow blonde (me) and beckoned for me to get up and
dance, too. Although it sounded like great fun, I hesitated at
first. So she came forward, grabbed me securely by the wrist,
and pulled for me to get up. Well, that was sufficient encouragement!
She smiled broadly when she realized that I knew how to do the
appropriate style of dance, and encouraged me on. The other local
women also smiled and nodded. |
After this, once I was sitting down again, the young couple
with the baby came by a second time, wanting to take a second
picture. But the baby refused to offer a cute smile for a second
picture, so his parents gave up on it! I guess babies are the
same everywhere when it comes to refusing to smile for the camera!
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This picture to the right shows some of the people who were guests
at this wedding. All the musicians wore uniforms with bright
red shirts and blue vests like the one worn by the tabla player
in this photograph. The little girl in this picture is Aiyah,
the "What's your name?" girl. Everyone was very friendly,
but unfortunately we couldn't talk much because I didn't speak
Arabic and they didn't speak English! So we communicated with
smiles and gestures as best we could. |
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Eventually, it came time for the bride and groom to be whisked
off in a car and the festivities to come to a close. We walked
the block back to our hotel and called it a night! At 1:00 a.m.,
it was finally time for us to get our beauty sleep!
I'd like to thank the Egyptian family who made us feel so
welcome at their joyous celebration. |
