Sham el Naseem

Last week we got an invite for dinner at a friend house.  Friends tend to be more functional here than stateside, but an invite is an invite and eventually you have to take the offer.  Besides, Abud has been really helpful and good to know.  He is an Egyptian friend with plenty of potential.  So I accepted, but I didn't realize that Monday was going to be a holiday, it was Sham el Naseem, which is kind of like Easter or a spring time celebration that dates way way back to like 5000 years ago.  So I didn't know any of this when I agreed to stop over my friend, Abud's house.  He lives in a flat in Luxor, but is working on finishing his flat in Karnak, so he invited me to come see his soon to be finished flat, which is right behind the temple of Karnak.  I live right in front of Karnak so I figured why not.

I forgot to mention to Abud that we are vegetarian, because I wasn't really coming over to eat, but more to see his place and spend a bit of time.  Abud met us in front of the post office and we made our way via service car to his house, his son named Islam accompanied us.  Islam wants to be a pilot someday, but his father has the more realistic plan of him being a tour bus driver.  As I thought it over I could understand both of their viewpoints, as I went on to explain my friend who is a pilot was a playboy, I realized too late I wasn't helping Islam's case.  Abud drove his motorcycle as we rode the service bus.  I spent .60 for eight people, happy the whole way.  As we passed Luxor temple, the complex was packed.  Abud had mentioned it was going to be even more crowded later.  I will have to see it some other time.

Anyway, since I forgot to tell him I was just coming to visit or that I don't eat meat, his wife was cooking when we came in.  I figured it best to just go ahead and be polite.  We meet his daughter, Zenieb and his younger son.  Zenieb is so intelligent and loves playing with Jacob, she is a few years older than him though.  CJ joins in playing too.  We talk and I can see that Abud is somewhat distracted.  We talk about America and about Egypt, about his job and soon the meal arrives.

We sat and the obligatory molokia plates came out along with a hearty soup and Egyptian flat bread.  We ate and were very happy.  Later a huge tray of rice and lamb came out.  We started to stare at each other.  It smelled delicious, but I remember the conversation I had with the horse the other day about eating animals.  But then I know what is going to happen if I send it back, I will get the evil evil eye.  So I tell the kids to dig in, this is the first lamb we have eaten in Egypt.  It smells wonderful and will probably be pretty tasty insofar as meat goes, I think, Corey looks and says, I don't eat hooven animals, Leah digs deep in and Asari looks confused.  I explain to Corey in a whisper, "if we don't finish this plate, she is going to be MAD."  I can see Abud's wife, Iman setting the large platter for their family near ours and looking out the corner of her eye.  I grab a piece of lamb and chew.

I don't like meat, I don't eat hooven animals either and I don't like rice, however I don't disrespect anyones house.  I especially don't encourage the wrath of Egyptian housewives either.  So I encourage the kids to eat eat eat, reminding Corey that she still loves fish and that if she doesn't dig in too, the next time she will see one will be when she is swimming in the ocean.  Meanwhile I look and see Iman staring over, very inquisitively out of the corner of her eye.  We are all eating, a second later, Abud asks, "more?"  We have half the tray left.  We decline.  A few minutes later Iman leaves into the kitchen.  We can see she is angering.  By the time she returns, the tray is nearly empty.  She relaxes, we are all happy.

I have been invited to dinner before and explained my eating to local friends and they don't understand.  Egyptians don't eat meat every day, but when you are invited you are expected to eat something, and in this case I think Abud added fuel to the fire by insinuating somehow that Iman should have known to make chicken  or fish, which just made matters worse.  However, since the tray was nearly empty, we got a smile and a reprieve, but I still feel bad, both for Iman and for the sheep, it was a no win situation, even if the food was delicious.  As we began eating, Abud brought out two huge Pepsi's and I could see CJ licking his lips.  I am like, none for the little two.  They look deeply disturbed, and I give them the look.  They shut up.

A second later, Leah spills her soda.  This allows me to excuse them from soda, but we have nothing else to drink.  As we finish dinner, I ask for tea.  Abud is disturbed.  He explains, apologizing, I didn't know you drank tea with your meal, normally, we drink tea after the meal.  I couldn't even begin to explain that tea and salad would have probably been enough, maybe with some beans or ful.  Anyway, we enjoyed the dinner and after we headed out for our trip to Karnak.

We catch a cab with Islam and Abud drives.  The cab driver is kind of Smokey Robinson, a real space cadet.  He turns up his music which is really nice, but a bit loud.  A woman is singing, in Arabic as the day starts to wane.  The music is nearly hypnotic, traditional, beautiful.  The driver reaches in his special hiding place for a special cigarette.  Islam explains to the driver that it isn't a good idea.  The driver explains why it is the best of things, of course all in Arabic.  Candice and I look at each other.  We reach Karnak and their is a hill leading up to the house.  The driver is driving an old Peugeot and it stutters as we all wonder if it can make it.  He makes a second attempt, still no go.  An old man is staring at us make the attempt.  He tries again, backing up, and makes it.  We start to think he is a pretty good driver.  As we prepare to congratulate him he bumps the tree in front of Abud's family house.  He knocks his grill plate off.  We all stifle our laughter.  He is at ease after a few minutes, confused, but at ease.

We meet Abud's family, he is still on the way.  We meet the head of the house, who we assume is his brother (he wasn't interested in making it clear himself), but could have been his father too, he said Abu, but that could mean head of household or father, we still aren't sure.  Later we meet his other brother, and his mother and sister.  They are all very nice, and we sit outside, then inside, and appreciate the day.  Later, when Abud arrives, he takes us to his unfinished flat, which has the best view of Karnak temple I have ever seen.  The sun sets behind the temple as I attempt some pictures on my iphone and promise to return with a proper camera some morning in the future.  What a way to bring in the spring... Egypt is very beautiful and its people while complex, complex, complex are just as beautiful but with an asterisk.

More Information on Sham El Nesseem:

Sham El Nesseem is an Ancient Egyptian celebration and it follows the Coptic Calendar (Which is in a way the extension of the Ancient Egyptian Calendar).

Sham El Neseem accordingly is not a fixed date on the Gregoian calendar (or solar calendar we use today), (Something like the differences between Hijri and Gregorian), It coincides with the first Monday after the Coptic Easter (For this year on 27/3/2008).

So for the year 2008 Sham El neseem will be on Monday 28th of April, as Kalooka said.

For a historical background about Sham El Neseem, read on:

Sham El Neseem could have been celebrated in Ancient Egypt as early as 4500 years ago. It was then related to agriculture and fertility religious rites. The name is derived from the Ancient Egyptian name for the harvest season "Shamo" meaning the "renewal of life", during which Egyptians presented offrands of salted fish, onions and lettuce to their deities. Colored Eggs, a symbol of rebirth, were also hung in temples.

Later on that festival was associated with Christianity and the Coptic faith and related to the Coptic Easter as explained above, the name was corrupted from "Shamo" to "Shom" (coptic) or "Shamm" (Arabic) which of course means smelling and "El neseem", meaning "breeze" was added at an even later date. So the full name became "Sham El Neseem" or "Smelling the Breeze"

Today the celebration of "Sham El Neseem" is a typical all Egyptians (Moslems and Copts) feast demonstrating our multiple cultural layers and the continued influences we have maintained over the years. It also demonstrates the religious tolerance which allowed religious symbols and occasions to move freely accross religious boundaries thus further enhancing the fabric of the Egyptian Society.

Sham El Neseem as celebrated today is a homage to spring, the season where life is renewed. Egyptians on that day go out on picnics where traditional foods inherited from the ancient ages are consumed (Feseekh which is a putrified salted fish, green onions, scallions, lettuce and luppini Beans (tirmis)).

Source:

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/shamelnaseen.htm

Additional note - our driver to the post office warned us we would probably be filled with salted fish, with a disturbed look on his face.  I like the salted fish good enough, and it is usually inexpensive, so for our hosts to serve lamb probably meant they were going out of their way for us even more and was not lost on me.

Luxor Taxicab Drivers (Part 2)

I had forgotten about our previous experience riding with a cab driver here named Michael, until we ran into him again earlier today.  He really deserves a blog entry all to himself, so it was good to see him again.  Michael is pretty cool, he is Christian and he speaks a decent amount of English and went on to tell us about his experience attending school and later on being an X-Ray technician.  He still is an X-Ray tech and he also drives a cab.  So we were driving along and he had asked me to take his number for use if we need him to drive in the future.  I figured it was a reasonable request, so I went ahead and put his number in my phone.

When I was done, I figured it would be a good idea to take a picture of him driving, so I could remember and place a face with the name.  As I took the picture, Michael looked back and assured me that the picture wasn't going to be good, so he asked me to hand him my phone.  I handed him the phone and he proceeded as he was driving to try and figure out how to take the picture on the iphone.  He took the picture, looked at it and said, no, the image must be perfect.  So in X-Ray tech mode, he pulls to the median, not the side of the road and retakes the picture.  "We must take a perfect image."  In semi broken English, correlating the picture to an X-Ray, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, I decided to laugh and enjoy the ride.

We make it home and then on the way out of the driveway as he is backing away a small child is playing right behind the cab, where he can't see.  Candice looks and sees the child and between me and her yelling and the child completely oblivious and the driver backing out, we all three nearly had heart attacks.

So when I hop in the cab today, the driver smiles and says, hello, Orlando.  I look, and I recognize him as Candice says, hello Michael.  He looks serious and remembers our last meeting, stating, the baby I almost had a heart attack, "I didn't see.  If you hadn't seen him, it bothered me all day, I was so scared."  We agreed and rode with him.  Later, as we were headed back to town, a policeman is in front of us.  He is blocking the way on a motorcycle, deliberately slowing traffic.  For the record, the officer did start it.

However, Michael decides to play chicken with the policeman.  Later as we hit Nile Corniche, Michael is more sure of himself and decides to really play chicken with the police officer.  He cuts him off hard and leaves him in the dust.  We all laugh as I wonder not if, but when, he is going to get pulled over.  Michael interrupts my thoughts as we pass the light, moving past the temple saying, "he knows I can handle my cab, so he is okay with me."  No sooner than he says this he bumps the curb.  I hold my laugh and horror way down, deep down and just decide to enjoy the rest of the ride.  He is a good driver, but funny things always seem to happen when he is driving.