Amazigh and Arab reconciliation .. Eid celebrated by Egyptian Siwa every year

Shaimaa Abdullah-Cairo

"Tekherkharin Tebriarin Tqtoshin Jalbab Njbnakh Egg Hakh". This is not a mistake in writing, but we had to open the story of the Egyptian oasis "Siwa" with this section of the heritage of the Siwa story.

It is a phrase in the Siwi language; close to the language of the Amazigh desert, begin with stories, and open councils, such as the one in Arabic, "Once upon a time, gentlemen, O Karam," and in the Siwa language begins to talk about the ancient sacred oasis "Oasis Sunset".

Before entering the world of Siwa Oasis, we repeat what the Greek historian Herodotus said: "After traveling to the heart of the desert, one goes through the bushes where wild beasts frolic, and behind them the dense sand area, which extends from Thebes in Egypt to the pillars of Heraclius. In this particular area, After a ten-day walk, one encounters traces covered with salt stones, which have been transformed into giant crystal crystals.

After all those times, the picture is never different. The mountains of salt still receive visitors, the fresh water reconciles the adversaries, and the olive forests await the harvest.

In the middle of October every year, the spotlight turns to that gorgeous spot amidst a sea of ​​sand. At that annual time, celebrations are held, and the seasons of visits begin for three lunar nights in the middle of the month.

It is a feast that was not approved by the state, and was not enacted by the timetable of the people, but the days were preserved by the memory of the desert, and recorded by the hearts of the Sewans, gathering the diaspora of the adversaries, and celebrating the harvest of olives, and in the shadows of loved ones lying in the mountains, the people of Siwa are on the slopes.

The origin of Siwi feast
Three names have been given to the annual Siwa celebration: Amazigh Tourism Day, "Tourism" in Amazigh, Reconciliation Day, and Harvest Day. The feast, which coincides with the harvest of the most important oasis crops dates and olives, is also called the feast of tourism, a word that does not come close to the current meaning, but tourism in the love of God, in a sense closer to Sufism, there is a great similarity between the ritual of this holiday and the rituals of Sufi births known in Egypt, the origin of the feast of reconciliation is what his story needs to be explained more clearly.

Sovereign reconciliation
160 years ago, the oasis was inhabited by several tribes of different origin; some of them of Amazigh origin, and some of Arab origin, and the wars and differences among them the most, and exhausted the war oasis and its people, until the inhabitants of the mountain left his cell, and knew the people of the foot knowing God Mohammed Hassan al-Madani victorious; The founder of one of the famous Sufi orders, wise, was not enough to defuse the crisis at that time and end the war that almost destroyed the oasis and its inhabitants.

He came down from Jebel Dakrour, a man who is seeking reconciliation. He put forward his idea, which became after him an annual sacred celebration for the people of the oasis, and he will come out from every house with a loaf of bread, and an amount of money, say or many, each according to his ability, and the cooks will start preparing the banquet. Men and children on a three-day ascetic journey towards the mountain, staying in tents, or old Siwa houses.

The three-day celebration extends the harvest of dates and olives, which precedes the end of that celebration, and the anniversary of the greatest reconciliation in the history of the oasis, as well as the feast that the ancients established to celebrate the memory of God, in the way of Sufi births, ready gesture to celebrate, and meet young people in singing and male sessions The old Siwi singing, in the morning girls are the place for men, and then turn away from participation.

On the fourth day of the celebrations, the gesture is eaten (meat, rice and bread), or whiff;