12 



DISCOVERY 



The mitlid of the Sheikh Umbarak began at 2 p.m. 

 on April 14, on the morning of which day similar 

 festivities were inaugurated in certain neighbouring 

 villages in honour of their own particular sheikhs. 

 A large crowd collected in the vicinity of the sheikh's 

 tomb, several people, chiefly women, seating themselves 

 around it on the outside. A blind woman, " the 

 servant of the sheikh," was receiving donations from 

 the faithful on his behalf. As the donors presented 

 their gifts, they recited the fatltah (the opening chapter 

 of the I^^ur'an) in low and rapid tones. In the road 

 which ran past the burial-ground, and in the adjacent 



Fig. I.— the tomb of the sheikh umbarak AC EI,-I,AHUN. 



palm- grove, large crowds of people were enjoying 

 themselves, and along the roadside booths had been 

 erected wherein butchers, and vendors of sweet- 

 meats, toys and other wares, plied their trade, to all 

 appearance doing excellent business. 



Games with Coloured Eggs 



Eggs, dyed a bright cerise, are a special feature of 

 all these mulids, and those who sold them attracted 

 a considerable number of customers. These coloured 

 eggs are used for two games, which are played as 

 follows. In one of them two boys or men take part, 

 each grasping an egg in his hand. One of them knocks 

 his egg against that of his opponent, and the man 



whose egg is not cracked is regarded as the winner 

 and takes the cracked egg of his adversary. In the 

 other game several eggs are arranged in a row on the 

 ground, and a number of men sit at a certain distance 

 away from them. Each in turn rolls an egg towards 

 the row of eggs facing him, and the man who first 

 succeeds in cracking one of them wins the lot. These 

 games, which were played by large numbers of people 

 at all the mulids that I witnessed, are an interesting 

 study for the anthropologist, coloured eggs being used 

 for games, in many cases similar to these, in various 

 parts of Europe, especially in the Balkan States. 

 Again, in most of the northern counties of England 

 coloured eggs are still used in a game which is played 

 on Easter Monday, and which closely resembles the 

 second Egyptian game described above. I remember 

 being presented, when a very small child, wdth one 

 such egg which was dyed a deep purple. 



Other attractions were not lacking at this mulid 

 of the Sheikh Umbarak. In the palm-grove, a con- 

 juror in one part and a poet in the other had collected 

 large and interested audiences. The poet was accom- 

 panied in his recitations by a woman, and sometimes 

 by two or three men as well, she and they each beating 

 a single- membrane drum. Peep-shows also contributed 

 to the amusements, the pictures shown usually repre- 

 senting favourite national saints, and heroes and 

 heroines. Lastly, roughly made little cars hung on 

 wheels, which turned round and round, were much 

 patronised by the children. 



The intense heat, the swarms of flies, and the dust 

 kicked up by the excited pleasure-seekers, aU con- 

 tributed to the general discomfort of a mere English 

 spectator like myself ! However, the friendly wel- 

 come I received wherever I went more than compen- 

 sated for these evils. 



A special sheikh (i.e. a holy man of this district), 

 who would later on conduct the zikr in honour of the 

 sainted Umbarak, paraded through the crowd on a 

 donkey, preceded by three men carrying large banners 

 decorated with various designs and inscriptions, and 

 bv musicians playing on cymbals and a double- 

 membrane drum. The same banners are used at the 

 mulids of other sheikhs at some of the neighbouring 

 villages, and are kept, when not in use, in the house 

 of "the servant" of the Sheikh "Tayyib at Hawara. 

 The men who carry them advance with dancing steps 

 instead of an ordinary walk.^ 



The festival was conducted with the utmost good 

 humour, the behaviour of the crowd being perfect. 

 It came to an end at 7 p.m., when the gaily dressed 

 little girls, their mothers, fathers, and brothers, 



1 A similar ceremonial gait was a feature of certain ancient 

 Egyptian religious performances, for which see Hermann 

 Kees, Der Opfevtanz des dgyptischen Konigs, Leipzig, 1912. 



