On 1 June, 24 Pashons on the Coptic calendar, Egyptians celebrate a feast close to their hearts: the Feast of the Entry of the Holy Family into Egypt.
The feast marks the event cited by St Matthew in the second chapter of his gospel, of St Joseph doing as the angel of the Lord told him, to “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy him.” (Matt 2: 13).
The journey’s great tradition
The Holy Family: the Child Jesus, His mother Mary, and St Joseph entered Egypt through its northeastern border with Palestine at what is today Rafah, headed southwest to the Nile bank at present-day Cairo where they boarded a boat and sailed the Nile to Assiut, some 350km south of Cairo. There they lived in a cavern for the longest interval of their stay in Egypt, till the angel again appeared to St Joseph saying: “Arise, and take the young Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young Child’s life” (Matt 2: 20).
Tradition has it that the journey to Assiut in Egypt and back to historic Israel extended over more than three years. Throughout, the Family travelled slowly from place to place, resting or residing for some time at various sites. Altogether, the journey covered over 3,500km, including 31 sites: eight caves or grottos, 18 water springs or wells, and 13 trees; they constitute what has famously become known as the Holy Family Trail in Egypt. Each site is today a pilgrimage destination for the faithful, with churches or monasteries built there. Copts cherish fond stories of a simple Family that lived on their land, travelling on donkey back or sailing the Nile in a small boat, resting in the shade of trees or in caves to eat, drink, bake, care for Baby, bathe Him, and carry on with the mundane tasks of any typical family. Such stories are endearing and include many miracles.
A multi-phase project is being carried out jointly between the Coptic Church and the Egyptian government to develop the sites on the trail of the Holy Family to accommodate religious and cultural tourism. So far, five sites have been developed.
Church and folk celebrations
Copts typically celebrate the feast with joyous Vespers incense services on the eve of the feast, followed by festive activities; and Mass the following day. Mass includes the reading of texts relevant to the Holy Family, also special melodies of celebration and praise, given that—according to Maged Samuel, Assistant Professor at Helwan University’s Faculty of Music Education—melodies are a long-established method of rooting historical events in the collective memory of people.
The Church chants: “Be happy and rejoice all people of Egypt, for the Lover of Humankind, who was before all times, has come to you… Jesus Christ, our true God who came for our salvation has this day come to the Egyptians and walked among them as a human… Rejoice, for Emmanuel, Lord of all creation who appeared to Abraham and talked to Moses, came in humility to your land… Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus… Glory to our Lord, Hallelujah… Saviour of the World, Lover of Humankind, grant mercy and healing to your people.”
On the folk level, plays are held with children playing the Holy Virgin holding her Baby, riding on donkey back in a joyful procession in villages or around churches. Sites that lie on the River Nile bank celebrate in boats and feluccas as they chant praises to the Holy Family. Hymns are sung, among them:
“O Egypt, a small Child and His family fled to you long ago.
He blessed your land, He blessed your people,
Your heart has lived in the joy of His blessings.
Blessed are a people who opened their arms,
To embrace Jesus and care for Him,
Blessed be my people Egypt, the promise given to you, Egypt ages ago.”
Egyptians are fond of the claim that, since Jesus came to the country as a suckling infant, Egypt was the first place that fed Him its food, gave Him its water to drink, clothes to wear, and on whose land He walked His first steps.
…And this year
The Holy Family feast has increasingly become over the years not only a Church occasion but also a public one. Various celebrations may run all along the month of June.
Churches on sites trodden by the Holy Family will hold their time-honoured celebratory Masses on the feast day. Famous among them is the historical church of the Holy Virgin on the Nile bank in Maadi, the spot where traditionally the Holy Family set out on a boat up the Nile into Upper Egypt, and which was the site of the 1976 miracle of the Bible found floating on the river water, its pages opened on the Isaiah chapter 19 prophecy “Blessed be Egypt my people”.
Mass will be held at the 5th-century cavern church of Abu Serga in Coptic Cairo at which the Holy Family is believed to have resided for some three months, and which houses a water well from which they drank.
Several public events are also planned. Among them is one to be held by Pope Tawadros on the evening of 1 June at the Papal Headquarters in Abbassiya, Cairo, where a film that has been produced to celebrate the Entry of the Holy Family into Egypt in the context of the vast, varied Egyptian heritage is to be screened.
On 2 June, an event is scheduled to mark the feast at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation in Cairo by Soft Power Production Corporation headed by Mona Zaky.
On 3 June, the church of the Holy Virgin in Haret Zuweila in Fatimid Cairo will hold its annual celebration of the Holy Family, headed by Anba Raphael, Bishop of Downtown Cairo Churches.
From 6 to 13 June, the venerable Bibliotheca Alexandrina will be hosting the NGO Blessed Egypt to offer visitors virtual reality tours of sites on the Holy Family trail in Egypt.
In pictures: Pope Tawadros celebrates Feast of Holy Family in open air Mass on Nile bank
Holy Family folk celebrations in Egypt listed as UNESCO Intangible Heritage
Mountain of the Birds: New site opened on Trail of Holy Family in Egypt
Watani International
29 May 2024