How does Egypt celebrate Christmas?

Answer 1

Christmas in Egypt

Most Egyptians today are Muslims therefore they do not celebrate Christmas as such although they do commemorate the birth of Jesus, but they celebrate the festivals Eid - ul - Fitr and Eid - Ul - Adha.

However, Egypt's Christian Copts celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January. The preceding Advent is for 40 days when the Copts should abstain from eating meat, poultry and dairy products. However, nowadays, people only really do this during the last week of Advent.

On Christmas Eve, Egyptians go to church wearing new clothes and Mass goes on until midnight. Bells are rung to mark the end of the service and people go home after they receive the special bread called 'qurban' (meaning sacrifice) at the end of the service. This bread has a Holy Cross in the middle and 12 dots to represent the 12 apostles.

Then they eat a special Christmas meal at home called 'Fata'. This meal uses bread, rice, garlic and boiled meat as its main constituents. In the morning, people visit their friends and neighbors and exchange 'kaik' (a type of shortbread) that is eaten with a drink called 'shortbat'.

Christmas is celebrated as a public holiday, especially for the Christians. Since Christians believe that Jesus, Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt for fear of Herod's plan, the Coptic churches are decorated with candles and lamps on Christmas to remind the Coptic Christians of when Joseph lit candles to keep Mary warm during the birth of Jesus.

In Egypt traditions are influenced by regional culture throughout Egypt so there are some differences depending on location.

Answer 2

I helped my son's class decorate the room in an Egyptian theme and I discovered a few things that I'd be glad to share. The main color should be gold. You almost can't overdo this. There are many shapes and images associated with Egypt; cats, scarab beetles, and pyramids.

While we associate mummies with ancient Egypt. Mummies, death masks, canopic jars, anything associated with death or burial would NOT be used as a household decoration.

Beaded roping looks great as Egyptian garland. You can pick up some cute, simple statuary at a thrift shop and paint it gold yourself for ornaments. If you mix in some things with a stone finish and some with bright colors of paint and/or jewels, you should be on your way to a dazzling Egyptian Christmas.