An account of the manners and customs of the modern Egyptians

by Edward William Lane

Lane’s Modern Egyptians]

[Page 42

It was a custom very common in Egypt, as in other Muslim countries, to consult an astrologer previously to giving a name to a child, and to be guided by his choice; but very few persons now conform with this old usage: the father makes choice of a name for his son, and confers it without any ceremony; a daughter is generally named by her mother. Boys are often named after the Prophet (Mohammad, Ahmad, or Mustaf′a), or some of the members of his family (’Alee, Hasan, Hoseyn, etc.), or his eminent companions (’Omar, ’Osmán, ’Amr, etc.), or some of the prophets and patriarchs of early times (as Ibráheem, Is-hák, Isma’eel, Yaakoob, Moosa, Dáood, Suleymán, etc.), or receive a name signifying “Servant of God,” “Servant of the Compassionate,” “Servant of the Powerful,” etc. (’Abd-Allah, ’Abd-er-Rahmán, ’Abd-el-Kádir). Girls are mostly named after the wives or the favourite daughter of the Arabian Prophet, or after others of his family (as Khadeegeh, ’A’ïsheh, A′m’neh, Fát’meh, Zeyneb), or are distinguished by a name implying that they are “beloved,” “blessed,” “precious,” etc. (Mahboobeh, Mebrookeh, Nefeeseh, etc.) or the name of a flower, or of some other pleasing object.[^[79]]

As the proper name does not necessarily or generally descend from parent to child, persons are usually distinguished by one or more surnames, of the following kinds:—a surname of relationship; as “Aboo-’Alee”[^[80]] (Father of ’Alee), “Ibn-Ahmad” (Son of Ahmad), etc.:—a surname of honour, or a nickname; as “Noor-ed-Deen” (The Light of the Religion), “Et-Taweel” (The Tall), etc.:—an appellation relating to country, birth-place, origin, family, sect, trade or occupation, etc.; as “Er-Rasheedee” (of the town of Rasheed), “Es-Sabbágh” (The Dyer), “Et-Tágir” (The Merchant). The second kind of surname, and that relating to country, etc., are often inherited; thus becoming family-names. Each kind of surname is now generally placed after the proper name.

The dress of the children of the middle and higher orders is similar to that of the parents, but generally slovenly. The children of the poor are either clad in a shirt and a cotton skull-cap or a tarboosh, or (as is mostly the case in the villages) are left quite naked until the age of six or seven years or more, unless a bit of rag can be easily obtained to serve them as a partial covering. Those little girls who have only a piece of ragged stuff not large enough to cover both the head and body generally prefer wearing it upon the head, and sometimes have the coquetry to draw a part of it before the face, as a veil, while the whole body is exposed. Little ladies, four or five years of age, mostly wear the white face-veil, like their mothers. When a boy is two or three years old, or often earlier, his head is shaven; a tuft of hair only being left on the crown, and another over the forehead,[^[81]] the heads of female infants are seldom shaven. The young children, of both sexes, are usually carried by their mothers and nurses, not in the arms, but on the shoulder, seated astride:[^[82]] and sometimes, for a short distance, on the hip.

In the treatment of their children, the women of the wealthier classes are remarkable for their excessive indulgence; and the poor, for the little attention they bestow, beyond supplying the absolute wants of nature. The mother is prohibited, by the Muslim law, from weaning her child before the expiration of two years from the period of its birth, unless with the consent of her husband, which, I am told, is generally given after the first year or eighteen months. In the houses of the wealthy, the child, whether boy or girl, remains almost constantly confined in the hareem (or the woman’s apartments), or, at least, in the house: sometimes the boy continues thus an effeminate prisoner until a master, hired to instruct him daily, has taught him to read and write. But it is important to observe, that an affectionate respect for parents and elders inculcated in the hareem fits the boy for an abrupt introduction into the world, as will presently be shown. When the ladies go out to pay a visit, or to take an airing, mounted on asses, the children generally go with them, each carried by a female slave or servant, or seated between her knees upon the fore part of the saddle; the female attendants, as well as the ladies, being usually borne by asses, and it being the custom of all the women to sit astride. But it is seldom that the children of the rich enjoy this slight diversion; their health suffers from confinement and pampering, and they are often rendered capricious, proud, and selfish. The women of the middle classes are scarcely less indulgent mothers. The estimation in which the wife is held by her husband, and even by her acquaintance, depends, in a great degree, upon her fruitfulness, and upon the preservation of her children; for by men and women, rich and poor, barrenness is still considered, in the East, a curse and a reproach; and it is regarded as disgraceful in a man to divorce, without some cogent reason, a wife who has borne him a child, especially while her child is living. If, therefore, a woman desire her husband’s love, or the respect of others, her giving birth to a child is a source of great joy to herself and him, and her own interest alone is a sufficient motive for maternal tenderness. Very little expense is required, in Egypt, for the maintenance of a numerous offspring.[^[83]]

However much the children are caressed and fondled, in general they feel and manifest a most profound and praiseworthy respect for their parents. Disobedience to parents is considered by the Muslims as one of the greatest of sins, and classed, in point of heinousness, with six other sins, which are idolatry, murder, falsely accusing modest women of adultery, wasting the property of orphans, taking usury, and desertion in an expedition against infidels. An undutiful child is very seldom heard of among the Egyptians or the Arabs in general. Among the middle and higher classes, the child usually greets the father in the morning by kissing his hand, and then stands before him in an humble attitude, with the left hand covered by the right, to receive any order, or to await his permission to depart; but after the respectful kiss, is often taken on the lap; and nearly the same respect is shown towards the mother. Other members of the family, according to age, relationship, and station, are also similarly regarded by the young; and hence arise that ease and propriety with which a child, emerging from the hareem, conducts himself in every society, and that loyalty which is often improperly regarded as the result of Eastern despotism.[^[84]] Sons scarcely ever sit, or eat, or smoke, in the presence of the father, unless bidden to do so; and they often even wait upon him, and upon his guests, at meals and on other occasions: they do not cease to act thus when they have become men.—I once partook of breakfast with an Egyptian merchant, before the door of his house, in the month of Ramadán (and therefore a little after sunset); and though every person who passed by, however poor, was invited to partake of the meal, we were waited upon by two of my host’s sons; the elder about forty years of age. As they had been fasting during the whole of the day, and had as yet only taken a draught of water, I begged the father to allow them to sit down and eat with us: he immediately told them that they might do so; but they declined.—The mothers generally enjoy, in a greater degree than the fathers, the affection of their children; though they do not receive from them equal outward marks of respect. I have often known servants to hoard their wages for their mothers, though seldom for their fathers.

With the exception of those of the wealthier classes, the young children in Egypt, though objects of so much solicitude, are generally very dirty, and shabbily clad. The stranger here is disgusted by the sight of them, and at once condemns the modern Egyptians as a very filthy people, without requiring any other reason for forming such an opinion of them; but it is often the case that those children who are most petted and beloved are the dirtiest, and worst clad. It is not uncommon to see, in the city in which I am writing, a lady shuffling along in her ample tób and habarah of new and rich and glistening silks, and one who scents the whole street with the odour of musk or civet as she passes along, with all that appears of her person scrupulously clean and delicate, her eyes neatly bordered with kohl applied in the most careful manner, and the tip of a finger or two showing the fresh dye of the henna, and by her side a little boy or girl, her own child, with a face besmeared with dirt, and with clothes appearing as though they had been worn for months without being washed. Few things surprised me so much as sights of this kind on my first arrival in this country. I naturally inquired the cause of what struck me as so strange and inconsistent, and was informed that the affectionate mothers thus neglected the appearance of their children, and purposely left them unwashed, and clothed them so shabbily, particularly when they had to take them out in public, from fear of the evil eye, which is excessively dreaded, and especially in the case of children, since they are generally esteemed the greatest of blessings, and therefore most likely to be coveted. It is partly for the same reason that many of them confine their boys so long in the hareem. Some mothers even dress their young sons as girls, because the latter are less obnoxious to envy.

The children of the poor have a yet more neglected appearance: besides being very scantily clad, or quite naked, they are, in general, excessively dirty: their eyes are frequently extremely filthy: it is common to see half a dozen or more flies in each eye, unheeded and unmolested. The parents consider it extremely injurious to wash, or even touch, the eyes, when they discharge that acrid humour which attracts the flies: they even affirm that the loss of sight would result from frequently touching or washing them when thus affected; though washing is really one of the best means of alleviating the complaint.

At the age of about five or six years, or sometimes later, the boy is circumcised.[^[85]] Previously to the performance of this rite in the metropolis and other towns of Egypt, the parents of the youth, if not in indigent circumstances, generally cause him to be paraded through several streets in the neighbourhood of their dwelling. They mostly avail themselves of the occurrence of a bridal procession, to lessen the expenses of the parade: and, in this case, the boy and his attendants lead the procession. He generally wears a red Kashmeer turban; but, in other respects, is dressed as a girl, with a yelek and saltah, and with a kurs, safa, and other female ornaments, to attract the eye, and so divert it from his person.[^[86]] These articles of dress are of the richest description that can be procured: they are usually borrowed from some lady, and much too large to fit the boy. A horse, handsomely caparisoned, is also borrowed to convey him; and in his hand is placed a folded embroidered handkerchief, which he constantly holds before his mouth in his right hand, to hide part of his face, and thus protect himself from the evil eye. He is preceded by a servant of the barber, who is the operator, and by three or more musicians, whose instruments are commonly a hautboy and drums. The foremost person in the procession is generally the barber’s servant, bearing his “heml,” which is a case of wood, of a semi-cylindrical form, with four short legs; its front (the flat surface) covered with pieces of looking-glass and embossed brass; and its back, with a curtain. This is merely the barber’s sign: the servant carries it in the manner represented in the engraving here inserted. The musicians follow next (or some of them precede the “heml”), and then follows the boy; his horse led by a groom. Behind him walk several of his female relations and friends. Two boys are often paraded together, and sometimes borne by one horse. Of the bridal processions, with which that above described is so often united, an account will be found in the proper place. A description, also, of some further customs observed on the occasion of a circumcision, and particularly of a more genteel but less general mode of celebrating that event, will be given in another chapter, relating to various private festivities.[^[87]]