03/23/07

          Weddings in Egypt are very traditional, and have very culturally specific aspects to them. A main part of this is the clothing they wear as well as dances, singing, and playing music. As in everyday weddings, the clothing is very important, and the weddings can differ whether they want a very traditional wedding or a western wedding. Though no matter what they do it always has some feel of tradition in it. Egyptian weddings today can be celebrated for days, and all the clothes they wear on these days matter. Another part of the wedding is the traditional body art known as henna. 

The whole family comes to celebrate the festivities.

Henna

            Another part of the wedding is henna, which is sort of like a part of the outfit. Henna is the powdered leaves of a tropical shrub, and can be used to dye the color of hair, and to decorate the body. In traditional weddings a henna party takes place the night before the wedding. This is where all the women who are close to the bride, like family and friends get together to have henna applied to their feet and hands. They do this by using a tip of an object like a toothpick or a stencil and draw beautiful, extravagant designs on their skin. The henna is not just for a decorative affect it is also believed to give good luck to the bride before the wedding.

These are some examples of henna designs.

            A wedding is the symbol of bringing together two families, and they are many different ways in which people celebrate this. Many weddings in Egypt today are arranged marriages, which means that the two families have a previous agreement that their children will be married in the future. There are many parts to a wedding and a main one is planning the clothes to wear. For every person in the wedding there is a specific traditional wear for them, and this must be followed. The weddings have a traditional aspect to it, as well as a modern side. As a modern aspect many of the clothes are filled with color and elegant decoration.

Even for tourists Egypt is a beautiful place to marry.

            The clothing for the bride is like the average dresses in weddings today, as they prefer to wear white gowns that are long and impeccably stitched. The wedding can sometimes go for days, so on days after the wedding the bride will wear bright colors like red for good luck. For the men the clothing is not as important, as they can still wear average suits, or an upper class style of a galabaya. Like traditional weddings the bridesmaids wear basically the same dresses, that are always beautiful, but never to extravagant as the brides dress is seen as the most spectacular.

            The majority of people in Egypt believe in the Muslim religion, at a Muslim wedding a man known as the sheikh officiates the wedding. A sheikh is an Arabic word meaning elder of a tribe, or wise man. The reason that the sheikh officiates the wedding is because he is the most knowledgeable of the group. At weddings in Egypt the food is very traditional and there is a large variety of food. Some examples of the food at the wedding are shish kebabs, grilled pigeon, chicken, eggplant, and lots of greens. Other popular foods are tomato salads, pita bread and dip. They also have a variety of other food, and let people make their own sandwiches. To many people in Egypt alcohol is looked down upon, so they do not drink it at weddings.

            Weddings in Egypt are very exciting, and what makes them interesting is the traditional part of it mixed in with the average, everyday wedding.