Muslim Christmas Parties in Egypt = Celebration of religious diversity?
“I have been invited to at least four Christmas parties this year, and three of them are being held by Muslims. This is the first time I’ve felt such a huge emphasis on Christmas,” 33-year-old investment banker Osama Abdelshafy says.
Hotels in Egypts have long celebrated Christmas for tourism-related reasons. However, over the past few years, Christmas has been visibly gaining ground throughout various strata of Egyptian society according to the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm:
Around 10 December, the Christmas buzz starts to hit with displays popping up in almost every major Cairo mall. Banners with “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year” adorn different store and restaurant fronts, and it becomes all too evident that the consumer fever that hits many other parts of the world has caught on here this year too. Some reports say that around 500,000 Christmas trees will have been sold this year in Egypt by 25 December.
Social anthropologist Reem Saad reminds us that the celebration of Christmas has always existed as part of Egypt’s heritage. “People in Egypt have traditionally celebrated religious diversity and joined each other in their celebrations", she says. “It has been a mainstay of Egyptian culture in the past.”
But Christmas in Egypt has departed from its roots as a celebration of the birth of Christ and taken on a more social role. “It’s not about being Christian or not, I just like the idea of getting together and giving gifts in a festive atmosphere”, Rania El-Nazer, who works in PR.
>> read the whole story in Al-Masry Al-Youm
It seems that Christmas is turning into a global secular ritual. Not only in Egypt. Only a minority in Norway for example (23%) is attending the church service at Christmas. Maybe it’s best to describe Christmas as a celebration of the family and capitalism. Many muslims and people from other religious minorities in Norway celebrate Christmas.
At the same time, the Guardian writes that Egypt’s Coptic Christians struggle against institutionalised prejudice.
At GlobalVoices you find an overview over Christmas Recipes in Global Food Blogs
SEE ALSO:
Book review: Religious globalization = Engaged cosmopolitanism?
Earth Hour - The first globalized ritual?
Christians and Muslims: That’s why there is peace
Eating Christmas in the Kalahari
Why you always get a present you don’t want - Social Sciences and Gift-Giving
Germans critical of Santa Claus’s spread - “symbol of American commercialism”
This entry was posted by admin and filed under religion cosmology, culture traditions, globalisation, Middle East. 1 comment
Thank you for this Lorenz.
From the quotes included in the Al-Masry article you linked to, it would seem that the opportunity to host a party and engage in gift exchange are attractive factors to those who throw these Christmas-themed parties, I’d be curious to see how this is done and reappropriated (or not) the Egyptian way.
Regarding the secularization of Christmas, I have been interested in how practicing Christians see this. I take this opportunity to point out this old post (in French) http://www.urbi-orbi.net/2008/12/noel/
presenting some contemporary reactions, among Christian groups, to the perceived emphasis on consumerism and secularization of contemporary Christmas in France. The Santa figure is also seen as almost evil by some, a phenomenon that Lévi-Strauss already wrote about in the 1950s after a giant Santa was ritually burnt by a Roman Catholic group in France.
Happy Holidays! xo