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Al-Zaieem
answers all your questions about Egypt. Ask him your question here.
Where's the mulid?
photo by Sherif Sonbol
Ahmed asks:
Where can I find a listing of mulids and the dates they occur on?
Sorry to say, Ahmed, but as far as Al-Zaieem can tell, there’s no
real formal list of the wandering festivals that are one
of the most colorful subcultures of Egyptian life. It seems that the
very grassroots nature of mulids makes them hard to classify or
schedule.
Al Zaieem consulted longtime
Cairo resident and noted mulid watcher Cameron McGrath--who
confirmed that no such schedule exists. "The dates vary on all
these things," he says. "You have to be in the know."
Beyond that, Cam offers the following broad tips for aspiring Moulid
fans:
There are basically three overlapping schedules of Egyptian mulids
-- the
Islamic festivals, the Coptic Christian and the harvest-related
mulids.
The massive mulid of Al-Sayid
Al-Badawi in the Delta city of
Tanta is the informal kick-off for the Muslim "mulid season." This year, Al-Sayid
Al-Badawi is scheduled for sometime
in October -- once again you’re going to have to rely on word-of-mouth to get a firmer
date -- and after that for
the next two months there should be something cooking almost every
week somewhere in Egypt.
The festivals are a mixture of religious
revivals, traveling carnivals and Grateful Dead shows -- complete with
dedicated mulid groupies who travel from event to event, often
subsisting for weeks at a time on the free food served up by the
various religious orders.
"There’s a lot of
themed mulids," Cam says. "There’s a mulid especially
for dwarves and a mulid for the blind."
Coptic mulid season
tends to run during the summer months (and are scheduled according
to the Western solar calendar rather than the Islamic lunar system),
while the various crop-related mulids are tied to the farming
cycle. "Once the harvest is finished they start celebrating," Cam says. "There
are mulids all over the
Delta for two months. You can see the same people at most of them."
Cam’s short list of favorite mulids:
*The mulid of Shenoudi in Sohag in July: Apparently this Coptic
mulid features women enclosing themselves in sacks, then rolling
down a hill in hopes of getting pregnant.
*Mulid Al-Rifai in Cairo in August: This festival features a
raucous
procession from Sayeda Zeinab to the Al-Rifai mosque near the
Citadel. "This used to be the best mulid in Egypt. There were
guys who swallow hot coals and hammer nails into their eyes."
*The mulid of Imam Al-Shafei: "A great crowd"
So there you have it, Ahmed. Al-Zaieem’s advice to you is to do
what Al-Zaieem did. Find yourself a mulid enthusiast and ask. Happy
hunting.
As always, Al Zaieem’s loyal readers are encouraged to write in
with their own Moulid recommendations or tales of Moulids past.
Next question please...
Click here to buy
Mulid! Carnivals of Faith (AUC Press Photo Books)
from Amazon.com
Al-Zaieem
answers all your questions about Egypt. Ask him your question here.
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previous Ask Al-Zaieem columns here.
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