WATANI International
24 October 2010
Customs and traditions are deeply ingrained in our society. Passed on from generation to generation, they represent a vital part of Egyptian life. I recently had the opportunity of being part of a traditional experience in the Upper Egyptian region of Assiut, some 450km south of Cairo. Together with my family whose roots go back to the small town of Abnoub, some 20 km north of Assiut, we spent two days in our home town for a very special occasion.
My brother and his wife had come all the way from Milan, Italy, to fulfil a vow. After seven childless years of marriage, they were blessed with twins, a girl and a boy. We were accompanied by my sister and brother-in-law who had a baby boy.
It is the custom among childless couples in Abnoub, or parents who have no boys, to make vows to the Holy Virgin, at the Hanging Monastery of Mar-Mina, which they fulfil if God grants any of them a child, especially a boy. A baby boy is every family’s dream in rural Egypt. To this day, boys represent family strength and the extension of their fathers’ legacy. Upper Egyptians fulfil their vows in August and September, around the time of the feast of the Virgin.
Ululating for the Virgin
We arrived at Abnoub on a Monday morning, to be greeted with various displays of celebration and the sound of women singing in an old Saïdi (Upper Egyptian) dialect which was sometimes difficult to understand. They were singing hymns and praises to the Virgin that went back hundreds of years in time. I vaguely remembered my mother and grandmother singing them when I was a child, and grew to learn that these praises, which were rather uncommon, were full of beautiful meaning.
As the afternoon progressed, a folk music band arrived, the musicians dressed in the traditional white galabiya. Members of such bands usually play the tabla and mizmaar—the Egyptian drum and flute. They arrived at my sister’s home, where we were to begin our family procession.
The strains of the tabla and mizmaar filled the air while we were loading the truck with the calf vowed to the church of the Holy Virgin, three kilometres away. The procession started to the sound of the music and the joyful ululations of the women. The men performed the traditional stick dance as they accompanied the procession through the town streets. Everywhere we moved, the women came out in their windows and balconies, ululating to share our joy.
Finally we arrived at the Holy Virgin’s church. The calf was unloaded and handed over to the church, after which the cars made the journey home, still to the sounds of the tabla and mizmaar. The man with the mizmaar played steadily for a full hour without a single pause, holding us in thrall. Captured by the singular music, I was amazed at his capability, power, and the sheer beauty of the melodies.
The journey to Mar Mina’s
At around sunset, the guests began to arrive. Inside a specially-erected marquee, visitors came from all around, as well as from Assiut and Cairo. The band played on. The men among the guests picked up their sticks and danced, sharing in the joy of the new parents. Both new fathers danced along, holding their baby sons in their arms, in celebration of the fulfilment of their vows. A banquet was spread out and the partying went on till 3:00am.
Very early the following morning the family woke after a brief sleep, and everyone—family, relatives and guests—gathered in front of the house to start together the trip to the Hanging Monastery. More than 15 vehicles headed in a row to the monastery, some 25km away. Two other calves made the journey with us to be offered to the Hanging Mar-Mina. Here the customs are different: the offerings are slaughtered inside the monastery, and a quarter of the offering is kept for the monastery while the rest is cooked in the monastery kitchen and distributed to the visitors and the needy.
Amazing monastery
The Mar Mina Monastery is known as “Hanging” because it hangs on a cliff in the heart of the mountain. An ancient monastery of great historical and archaeological value, it was built some 170m high up in the mountain. The monastery belongs to the Abnoub and Fath parish, whose bishop is Anba Lucas. Built in the fourth century by Queen Helena, it surrounds an impenetrable fortress built over three floors. The fortress was renovated in 1998 under the supervision of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Anba Lucas told us that the area south of the monastery is home to a vast number of antiquities and the remains of an ancient Coptic town.
Seven crosses of burnt brick set into the outer walls of the monastery can be spotted from outside. A paved road and staircase lead the visitor to the front of the fortress and its main entrance, from where one can go up to the first floor. There are three chambers on the first floor; the second floor has a room assigned for offerings, and the third floor contains another three rooms. Some rooms were built of brick while others were sculpted in the mountain. Above the third floor, stairs lead visitors to the final part which includes the monastery’s churches: one dedicated to Mar-Mina and Baba Athanasius and another to the Virgin Mary and the Archangel Mikhael. This church altar is fully carved into the mountain.
Today the monastery is teeming with monks; there are 23 cells and another for the abbot. Among the buildings are a guest house and a retreat hostel for young people.
More families
We were not the only ones at Mar-Mina’s to fulfil vows; others arrived with cows or sheep. After the animals were slaughtered a dense crowd of people waited for the meat to be weighed, and the three quarters were taken to the kitchen for cooking. The guests were received in a hall in the monastery, where we were all served a breakfast of eggs, white cheese and shamsi (sun) bread—typical Upper Egyptian bread that is leavened in the hot sun. We then went into the monastery to pray and offer thanksgiving. At 2:00pm lunch of meat and soup was offered to everyone, as well as to the poor who were continuously pouring onto the premises. The day ended as everyone returned home with happy memories.
The prodigal calf
While at the monastery I heard many stories about the vows people make to Mar-Mina so he would intercept on their behalf so that God would give them. I discovered that not only Copts make vows to Mar-Mina, but Muslims too. One of them told me an interesting story. “A Copt was once celebrating the birth of his son at the Hanging Mar-Mina’s. He invited his Coptic and Muslim friends to share with him his joy and celebration. One of the guests, Ahmed, had not had a baby boy after several years of marriage. Ahmed vowed to offer two calves to the Hanging Mar-Mina monastery if his wife had a baby boy. True to Mar-Mina, before year-end Ahmed’s wife had delivered a son. He bought the promised calves but, before he could take them to Mar-Mina’s, the imam of the near-by mosque got wind of the plan and reprimanded Ahmed for “offering two calves to the chief of the Copts” and advised him to offer one to Mar-Mina and the other to the mosque. Ahmed acquiesced.
When the time came for Ahmed to fulfil his vow, he loaded the truck with Mar-Mina’s calf and headed to the monastery. But the calf suddenly jumped off the truck and escaped into the bushes. Ahmed and his friends rushed to search for it, but could not find it. He was thus obliged to go back for the calf he had left at home—the one intended for the mosque—so as not to feel embarrassed in front of his guests. At Mar-Mina’s, once the slaughtering started, the attendants were surprised to find the prodigal calf arriving, all on its own. Everyone was amazed, and Ahmed decided to offer both calves to Mar Mina, as he had originally vowed to do.”