But performances of a different kind from those above mentioned are more common, and are considered more proper, on the occasions of private festivities. These are the recitations of a “khatmeh” (or of the whole of the Kur-án), by three or more fikees, who are hired for the purpose; or of a “zikr,” by a small party of fakeers.[[594]] That the khatmeh may not be too fatiguing to the performers, the fikees relieve one another by turns; one only chanting at a time; and each, usually, chanting a ruba. They generally come to the house a little after the ’asr, and get through the greater part of their task before the guests assemble: one of them then chants more leisurely, and in a more musical manner: after him, in the same manner, another; and so on.[on.] Sometimes a khatmeh is performed in the day-time, and after it, in the evening, a zikr. It is a rule that the zikr should always be performed after sunset.
In Egypt, persons who habitually live with the utmost frugality prepare a great variety and profusion of dishes for the entertainment of their friends. But very little time is devoted to eating. The period of conviviality is mostly passed in smoking, sipping coffee, drinking sherbet, and conversing: the Turks, however, generally abstain from smoking during the recitation of the Kur-án; and the honour which they pay to the sacred book on every occasion has given rise to a saying, that “God has exalted A′l-’Osmán [i.e. the race of ’Osmán, or the ’Osmánlees] above other Muslims, because they exalt the Kur-án more than do others.” In these parties, none of the guests ever attempts to amuse his companions, except by facetious conversation, or sometimes by telling a story; though all of them take great delight in the performances of the hired dancers, musicians, and singers. The Egyptians seldom play at any game, unless when only two or three persons meet together; or in the privacy of their own families. They are a social people; and yet they but rarely give great entertainments. Festivities such as I have described above are very unfrequent: they occur only on particular occasions which really call for rejoicing. Excepting on such occasions, it is considered improper to hire dancing-girls to perform in a house.
The marriage festivities I have described in a former chapter; I therefore proceed to give an account of the festivities which follow a marriage; and shall do so in the order of their occurrence.
On the seventh day (“Yóm es-Subooa”[[595]]) after a marriage, the wife receives her female relations and friends during the morning and afternoon; and sometimes, the husband entertains his own friends in the evening; generally hiring persons to perform a khatmeh or a zikr. It is a custom of husbands in Egypt to deny themselves their conjugal rights during the first week after the conclusion of the marriage with a virgin bride; and the termination of this period is a due cause for rejoicing.[[596]]—On the fortieth day (“Yóm el-Arba’een”) after the marriage, the wife goes, with a party of her female friends, to the bath. Her companions return with her to her house, about the ’asr; partake of a repast, and go away. The husband, also, sometimes receives visitors in the evening of this day, and again causes a khatmeh or zikr to be performed.
The next festivities in a family are generally those consequent on the birth of a child.—Two or three or more days before the expected time of delivery, the “dáyeh” (or midwife) conveys, to the house of the woman who requires her assistance, the “kursee el-wiládeh,” a chair of a peculiar form, upon which the patient is to be seated during the birth.[[597]] This chair is covered with a shawl, or an embroidered napkin; and some flowers of the henna-tree, or some roses, are tied, with an embroidered hand-kerchief, to each of the upper corners of the back. Thus ornamented, the chair (which is the property of the dáyeh) is conveyed before her to the house.—In the houses of the rich, and of those in easy circumstances, the mother, after delivery, is placed on a bed, and usually remains on it from three to six days: but poor women, in the same case, seldom take to a bed at all; and after a day or two, resume their ordinary occupations, if not requiring great exertion.
On the morning after the birth, two or three of the dancing-men called Khäwals, or two or three Gházeeyehs, dance in front of the house, or in the court.—The festivities occasioned by the birth of a son are always greater than those on account of a daughter. The Arabs still show relics of that feeling which often induced their ancient ancestors to destroy their female offspring.
A few days after the birth, generally on the fourth or fifth day, the women of the house, if the family be of the middle or wealthy classes, usually prepare dishes of “mufattak′ah,” “kishk,” “libábeh,” and “hilbeh;” which they send to the female relations and friends. The first of these consists of honey with a little clarified butter and oil of sesame, and a variety of aromatics and spices pounded together: roasted hazel-nuts are also added to it.[[598]] The kishk has been described in a former page.[[599]] The libábeh is composed of broken or crumbled bread, honey, clarified butter, and a little rose-water: the butter is first put into a saucepan over the fire; then, the broken bread; and next, the honey. The dish of hilbeh (or fenugreek) is prepared from the dry grain boiled, and then sweetened with honey over the fire.
On the “Yóm es-Subooa” (or Seventh Day) after the birth of a child, the female friends of its mother pay her a visit. In the families of the higher classes, ’Awálim are hired to sing in the hareem; or A′láteeyeh perform, or fikees recite a khatmeh, below. The mother, attended by the dáyeh, sits on the kursee el-wiládeh, in the hope that she may soon have occasion for it again; for her doing this is considered propitious. The child is brought, wrapped in a handsome shawl, or something costly; and, to accustom it to noise, that it may not be frightened afterwards by the music, and other sounds of mirth, one of the women takes a brass mortar, and strikes it repeatedly with the pestle, as if pounding. After this, the child is put into a sieve, and shaken; it being supposed that this operation is beneficial to its stomach. Next, it is carried through all the apartments of the hareem, accompanied by several women or girls; each of whom bears a number of wax candles, sometimes of various colours, cut in two, lighted, and stuck into small lumps of paste of henna, upon a small round tray. At the same time, the dáyeh, or another female, sprinkles, upon the floor of each room, a mixture of salt and seed of the fennel-flower, or salt alone, which has been placed during the preceding night at the infant’s head; saying, as she does this, “The salt be in the eye of the person who doth not bless the Prophet!” or, “The foul salt be in the eye of the envier!” This ceremony of the sprinkling of salt is considered a preservative, for the child and mother, from the evil eye: and each person present should say, “O God, favour our lord Mohammad!” The child, wrapped up, and placed on a fine mattress, which is sometimes laid on a silver tray, is shown to each of the women present, who looks at its face, says, “O God, favour our lord Mohammad! God give thee long life!” etc., and usually puts an embroidered handkerchief, with a gold coin (if pretty or old, the more esteemed) tied up in one of the corners, on the child’s head, or by its side. This giving of handkerchiefs is considered as imposing a debt, to be repaid by the mother, if the donor should give her the same occasion; or as the discharge of a debt for a similar offering. The coins are generally used, for some years, to decorate the head-dress of the child. After these nukoot for the child, others are given for the dáyeh. During the night before the subooa, a water-bottle full of water (a dórak in the case of a boy, or a kulleh in that of a girl), with an embroidered handkerchief tied round the neck, is placed at the child’s head, while it sleeps. This, with the water it contains, the dáyeh takes, and puts upon a tray, and presents to each of the women; who put their nukoot for her (merely money) into the tray.—In the evening, the husband generally entertains a party of his friends, in the manner usual on other occasions of private festivity.
During a certain period after childbirth (in most cases, among the people of Cairo, forty days, but differing according to circumstances, and according to the doctrines of the different sects), the mother is regarded as religiously impure.[[600]] The period here mentioned is called “Nifás.” At the expiration of it, the woman goes to the bath.
The ceremonies and festivities attendant upon the circumcision of a boy are the next that I shall describe.—In most cases, the boy about to be circumcised (who is called “muttáhir”) is paraded through the streets in the manner which has been related in a former chapter; that is, if his parents be of the middle or higher class of citizens: but most of the learned, people of religious professions, fikees, and some rich men, in Cairo, prefer performing a ceremony called “Siráfeh,” of which the following account will convey a sufficient notion.