Christmas in Egypt

Many of my friends were wondering, before I left to Egypt, why the hell I'm going to Egypt for Christmas?! Well... why not? :-) Worst thing could happen (in Islamic country) I'll get rid of Christmas for one season. Was a low probability though. And why? First of all... Originally planned plane to Sharm was full, so apparently there are many people going to Egypt for Christmas holiday, second, Egyptians would do everything for tourist market. And that is what happened in the end.

Christmas: A celebration of humanity dating back thousands of years. It originated as a pagan celebration of the birth of the Sun, as it was celebrated on the winter equinox, and after that point, days got longer. When the Catholics/ Christians took over these pagan peoples, they replaced their holiday with their own Birth of the Son, (as in of God) to make the transition to Christianity's traditions easier. We Czech are not celebrating with Santa (yet) so I won't go any further on that. It's just celebration of the birth of Jesus.

Jesus was born between years 10 and 5 BC and no one is much of to be certain if it was in Bethlehem or Nazareth or in vicinity. And he was born in summer! :-) The idea of giving then comes from The Story of Three Kings, magi from the East, who foretold the birth of King of Kings and came sometime between true birth of Jesus and moment when he was like 2 years old already. Much later the Christmas tree came and the other stuff all we know. Those two related stories made the way ready for all the funny stuff about Christmas celebration – means IF Christmas are about comercionalism or religion.

For more precise information on that, please refer to one of the articles about “Christmas topic” at urbandictionary.com:

1. n. The holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Falling conveniently on the 25th of December, supposedly declared by the Catholic Church to eclipse a Pagan holiday (winter solstice) on the same day.
2. n. A heart touching season where gift giving is promoted, and Santa Claus is every youth's hero. Other Christmas icons include: reindeer, snowmen, elves, presents, pine trees, ornaments, tinsel, holy, yule logs, sleighs, mistletoe, carols, noel, angels, golden rings, calling birds, french hens, turtledoves, birds in fruit-bearing trees. 

In my family for many generations the most important day of Christmas is the 24^th. And from that (of course) the evening – Christmas Eve dinner and the giving ritual which strictly follows. Since very morning though everyone's trying to get busy to shorten the waiting. So I have been spending 100 % of those days watching fairytales nonstop and that done it for me. How to spend my (means 24^th ) Christmas Day in Egypt? And in Dahab? By snorkeling of course!

Original plan was to go to St. Katherine by morning bus on that day. Plans break often in Egypt, so very soon after my arrival I realized public bus going every morning at 9:30 from Dahab to St. Katherine was canceled for good. No wonder considering the fact that last time (2006) I was alone on that bus with its driver. Three other alternatives left are:

Hitch-hiking: unpractical from Dahab just for the reason one has to go pretty far from the town itself and it is uncertain IF someone would pick me. No “normal” people are going that way. Mostly mini-buses with tourists or just everything pre-payed-by-tourists related.

Taking a taxi: totally lame, while it costs 250 EL. That's it.

Booking a spot with a group going to St. Katherine for a Mt. Sinai climb and monastery visit, which was 60 EL for that one-way trip and no bargaining possible (that I knew from last time).

Obviously I took the last choice. No trips to St. Katherine are organized on Friday morning because monastery is closed. Man! There are Christian monks inside and they're closed on Muslim holiday (Friday instead of Sunday)? I was left with another day down in Dahab with a perspective to leave sometime before midnight. And what better to do than visit the reef just one more time? Unfortunately wind was still blowing hard. Man! I never experienced such a throw on the reef before :-) It's a nice way to spend the time before evening, like instead of TV watching the RL fish.

Evening came and eventually the time of Christmas Eve diner. Funny Mummy! First thing that was certain at that moment was, I was right with Christmas in Egypt! Well it actually was certain already at my first day there because of all those Christmas decorations at many beach clubs and shops on the main street. But this no one expected. All personal was zooming through Funny Mummy with Christmas hats like little dark Santa's Elves, well... all except the two bosses, they apparently could afford that :-) . And it was full! Almost.

How is it actually with Christmas celebration in Egypt? There are Christians in Egypt for sure. There is Coptic Church, which is the oldest one of them all. I'm not sure of that but I guess they're celebrating Christmas according to Julian calendar, then that would be only at the start of January next year. Wast majority though are Muslims. And they don't believe in Jesus. Well they do, but only as in one of many prophets, an awesome one, still one of many. They believe in Mohammed. There's no reason for them then to celebrate Christmas at all as we (people from Christian culture) do in the first place.

I was wondering if they do something for Mohammed at least. And they do! It is called Mawlid an-Nabi and it is a celebration of the birth of Mohammed. The earliest accounts for the observance of Mawlid can be found in 8th century Mecca, when the house in which Mohammed was born was transformed into a place of prayer by Al-Khayzuran (mother of Harun al-Rashid, the fifth and most famous Abbasid caliph). The start of the tradition is then actually pretty much closer to the actual event compare with Christmas and the birth of Jesus. First thing about Mawlid is, they are still uncertain IF to celebrate it or not. Part of scholars believe it's against the law (Qu'an) and Mohammed's will. But as for any other people, same for Muslims, any excuse for a party is good enough. So they party. And traditional Christmas are nothing compare to Mawlid. Crowds in the streets, all chearing, celebrating, praying... Mawlid falls in the month of Rabi' al-awwal in the Islamic calendar, for Shias on 17^th of that month, for Sunnis on 12^th. For 2010 in our (Gregorian) calendar it is on Feb 26 or Mar 3 (respectively) and for 2011 Feb 15 and Feb 20. We are two months off then and no chance to do any joined celebration yet. Because Islamic year is a bit shorter than Gregorian year, there is a chance to do it in few years though :-)

Back to Christmas in Egypt again. It is pure touristic thing after all how it seems and from my perspective they do it too much American-style. Fortunately I didn't cross any building or beach restaurant equipped with Rudy pulling Santa's sleigh, that would totally done it for me! Christmas trees (even palms) with lights were abundant, glass balls (even with lights inside) too, shiny letters at all possible spots wishing “Merry Christmas” and so on. And in the end – the hat thing at Funny Mummy's.

My favourite waiter in Mummy (the guy you see on the photo with a shisha for me) unfortunately wasn't equipped with his hat. The first thing we were all asking him for the reason and it didn't seem to make him much happy. I guess he was one of bosses in staff so he could actually afford not to wear it. Anyway, after many tries we talked him into it just for the fun of it and to take some pictures.

Christmas Eve's menu was no different from the normal one so Christmas chicken kebab on my plate. We heard though that at some restaurants they're planning special Christmas dinners for guests for insanely high prices (dealing even with turkey and such stuff – totally American again). A good Sakara beer to that and of course a shisha or two to finish the feeling of evening Egypt.

I was told to wait in BishBishi for the departure with my group to St. Katherine so I did it. Other guys went to The Bridge and to old part of Dahab Village for some time and came back later. In meantime Lizzie and Becca came storming in at BishBishi in a good-party-mood with airballoons, the appearance was one of a really great party. Bad thing for me I had to stay on the spot. The thing is, if Egyptians tell you “departure at 11 pm” it could pretty much be at 10 or 12 or vice versa. I'm screwed :-( No wild Christmas party in Dahab for me this year. The cure was few bottles of Rumo Masry after guys came back to camp. Actually I'm not sure how many, the true is, I can't remember much of the first half of Mt. Sinai climb much later.

Bus went on few minutes before midnight and (again) plans are changing. I WAS really ready to go right to the Farag's Camp after we'd arrive to St. Katherine, in those 90 minutes I changed my mind. I payed 60 EL for the trip after all and none from those local guys going with us seemed to have any idea about that, no need to mention the Bedouin guide waiting for us at the monastery. I took my chance then to take the climb and get more stuff from the money I payed. I was ready to go to Mt. Sinai anyway, but alone and during next day. This new choice meant no sleep for me at all and huge crowds at the top. That's coming next though.

What's good on celebrating Christmas in Egypt then? Or in Dahab to be more exact? Because Dahab is not really classical Egypt. I could imagine the way Christmas (even for tourists) go in Cairo or Alex or even Sharm could be quite different. But temperatures about 25 degrees all day, not under 15 degrees during night, a chance to decorate your own Christmas palm tree, to spend all day before Christmas Eve in the sea, some wild parties during the evening and night. It's a win-win situation. The Christmas palm tree is the most awesome thing for me! FTW!

Next time: Speaking with Moses (on Christmas)