Egyptian Christmas Traditions

Christmas is a festival of celebration. One cannot think about Christmas without Christmas music, carols, lights and decoration. Families around the world get busy in preparations for Christmas. Homes are cleaned and decorated with wreaths, evergreen twigs of holly and mistletoe and Christmas lights. A Christmas tree is brought home and decorated by all the family members. The entire atmosphere is full of festive fervor and gusto. Everyone gets time to meet with friends and enjoy the festivities. A lot of traditions are associated with Christmas. Every nation has its own set of Christmas traditions. Egyptian Christmas traditions have religious significance.

Even though, Egypt is an Islamic country, Christmas is celebrated in traditional style. The Christmas in Egypt is celebrated on January 7. The Egyptians Christians are called as Coptic Christians. Egypt has special Christmas celebration due to its long association with infant Jesus as he stayed in this land. The Coptic Christians have their own Pope and church. St. Mark was the one who introduced Christianity in this country of Egypt. He is considered as the first Pope. The religious traditions of Christmas are still practiced during Christmas in Egypt. Attending mass in the church is an important Christmas tradition. followed during the festival of Christmas.

Egyptian Christians celebrate Christmas in traditional manner with a lot of festivities like partying, dining, giving gifts and so on. The Egyptians Christians fast from November 25 till the Christmas day. During fasting, these people do not eat meat and dairy products. In this period, the families get busy in cleaning homes and preparations for Christmas cooking. The homes are decorated with festive Christmas lights and Christmas trees. Some homes have real Christmas tree while others have artificial Christmas tree. On the Christmas day, they break their fast and feast on the traditional Christmas delicacies. The families visit church and offer prayers, attend midnight mass of Christmas Eve. The church has choir that has Christmas music and carols.

The special meal during Christmas has rice and meat. There are special biscuits made with cross sign. These biscuits are called as "Kahk". Special bread is baked during Christmas. It is referred as Qurban. The people visit each other on Christmas morning. Children are given small amount of money to buy sweets, candies and toy by the elders. The Nativity scenes are seen in the churches as well as people perform them on the streets. The main Christmas celebration is held in the St. Mark's cathedral in Cairo. The churches are decorated with candles and lights. The festival of Christmas is celebrated with great jubilation by families and friends. Even Muslims get involved in celebration with Christian friends.

The Egyptian Christmas traditions are amalgamation of Christian traditions with some food traditions of Islamic culture. Both the communities come together to celebrate the festival. Christmas candles and sweets are distributed as gifts in Egypt.