EGYPT: Egyptians celebrated "Shem al-Nessim", the annual spring holiday that is believed to date back to Pharaonic times

Record ID: 376629

  • Title: EGYPT: Egyptians celebrated "Shem al-Nessim", the annual spring holiday that is believed to date back to Pharaonic times
  • Date: 10th April 2007
  • Summary: WIDE OF PARK WITH FERRIS WHEEL IN BACKGROUND FAMILIES PLAYING IN PARK CHILDREN PLAYING ON SLIDES AND SWINGS IN PARK TWO MEN PLAYING BACKGAMMON BLINDFOLDED MAN BEING LED BY THE HAND BLINDFOLDED MAN CHASING FAMILY MEMBERS FAMILY SEATED AROUND PICNIC WOMAN WITH BABY PAN OUT FROM OLD MAN EATING LETTUCE TO FAMILY GATHERED AROUND PICNIC FAMILY GATHERED AROUND PICNIC (SOUNDBITE)
  • Embargoed: 25th April 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVA6QUXPTRPZA6MTWCVAJTU70L5V
  • Story Text: Traditionally, Egyptians celebrate the ancient Shem al-Nessim spring holiday by eating an eclectic menu of salted fish, boiled eggs, green onions and lettuce - items that their ancient forefathers are thought to have offered to their gods as symbols of fertility and rebirth.
    This year has been no different, with a huge demand for the salted fish that has often been blamed for a rash of illnesses and deaths during the yearly feast.
    Shem al-Nessim, which means "the smelling of the breeze" in Arabic, falls on the day after Coptic Christian Easter Sunday and marks the ushering in of Spring.
    The night before and morning of the holiday Egyptians go out shopping for "fiseekh", the pungent, salted grey mullet, and other ingredients that many will later take for picnics to the crowded parks along the Nile.
    In the old Cairo neighbourhood of Sayyeda Zeinab, the famous Shaheen fishmonger -- or "fasakhany" -- was flooded with customers buying the much sought after fish.
    Fishmonger Mohammad Shaheen said that his fish, which is salted and left to pickle for several months, was prepared with great care.
    "And not just any salting. It shouldn't be left exposed to flies or anything. Correct salting. The second thing is, it [the fish] should hold together, and should not be thin or weak or anything," he said.
    It's customary on Shem al-Nessim for people to wake up early and inhale the fresh spring air, believing that doing so on this day in particular will bring them good luck and ward off the evil eye.
    One of the customers at Shaheen's, Khaled, says that such customs are inherited and have become a part of life in Egypt today.
    "It's a custom, I think it's a Pharaonic custom. We've become used to it, that's all, nothing more than that," he said.
    While the holiday is largely an occasion for celebration, there are continuing fears about the safety of eating fiseekh, which critics say is often spoiled and can lead to deadly diseases like botulism.
    Emergency rooms in the capital are on call for cases of food poisoning and Egypt's ministry of health has warned the public not to over-indulge its taste for the pungent delicacy. In addition, over the last few days the police have shut down several shops which they said were selling fish that had gone bad.
    Nevertheless Cairo's few public green spaces -- from traffic islands to parks on the corniche Nile river front -- filled up on Monday (April 9) with families arriving early to set up picnics and to play traditional games like backgammon and dominoes.
    Because it is a national holiday with its origins in Ancient Egypt, Shem al-Nessim is unique in the Egyptian calendar, being celebrated by both Muslims and Christians alike.
    The families that gather along the Nile are continuing a tradition that may have begun with the Pharaohs in the third millennium BCE, but has continued down through the ages, and been adapted into the culture along the way.
    The custom of colouring boiled eggs is said to have originated with the ancient Egyptians' habit of hanging dyed eggs in the temples as symbols of the cycle of life. It was then adapted into Christianity and coloured eggs have become synonymous with Easter.
    The eating of onions is also said to originate in antiquity with both the ancient Egyptians and many in contemporary Egypt believing onions to be a cure for diseases and a bulwark against the evil eye. Egyptian mothers traditionally put an onion under their children's pillows the day before Shem al-Nessim or make them smell one in the morning.
    Maryam, who came to the park with her family, said it was a day she always looks forwards to.
    "It's a beautiful day. People wait for this day from year to year, to go out to parks and to be joyful," she said.
    Whatever its origins, or the dangers of consuming the infamous fisheekh, Shem al-Nessim continues to be a day of celebration for many Egyptians.
    And with the holiday believed to fall on the last day before the coming of the "Khamaseen" sandstorms, 49 days of intermittent, sweeping red sand winds, it is also a chance to have one last long, uninterrupted breath of fresh air.
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