Funerals without meals, shortened wedding parties and even finer gold wedding rings… In Egypt, the economic crisis has not only changed consumption habits, it is upsetting centuries-old traditions.
Until recently, in Qouissna and in all the other villages of participate you Nilno one would have imagined celebrating his marriage without organizing the day before a bachelor party.
But today, and as hard as it has been because weddings and burials are one of the main meeting places for socializing, “It hardly happens anymore”testified to AFP Mohammed Chedida 33-year-old engineer.
Because few are those who can pay this party day during which, the day before the wedding, friends and relatives of the groom gather around a group of musicians hired for the day in a room fitted out for the occasion.
Especially, while to eat meat has already become a luxury almost no longer afforded by the 60% of Egyptians who are poor or just above the poverty linebuying a whole beef to feed diners as tradition dictates is now out of reach for many.
In the most populous Arab country, 105 million inhabitants accustomed for a long time to going into debt for special occasions, no longer stick their heads above water: they are crushed under a inflation at 33.9%constantly exacerbated by a currency devaluationtoday at almost 50%.
At the other end of the country, in southern Nubia where tourists from all over the world come to admire the pharaonic colossi ofAbu Simbelthe economic crisis also “changed weddings like funerals”agrees Omar Maghrabi, a 43-year-old Nubian language teacher.
“Families are forced to use their money for everyday life rather than for expenses only made to respect traditions”he assures AFP.
No more three-day weddings – and therefore nine gargantuan meals – to which all the inhabitants of the village were invited.
The situation had become so untenable that “The Nubian villages agreed a few months ago to drastically reduce the cost of the wedding: now the hosts only have to offer a light dinner” instead of the festivities that might take up to seven days for the richest before, says Mr. Maghrabi.
As for brides, they are now much less fussy regarding rings: “Before, you needed a certain weight of gold to seal a union, today a much finer ring is enough”he says once more.
The highest Muslim authority in Egypt even recently announced that the traditional gold jewelry might easily be replaced by silver ornaments… much less expensive.
Funerals are not spared either by budgetary restrictions. In the village of al-Adhadhiya, in Upper Egypt, an agricultural and traditionalist region, families once crowded to bring trays of food to the relatives of a deceased.
But today, “We agreed that only the immediate family would do it”reports Mohammed-Rifaat Abdelala 68-year-old former deputy.
“Some families are even demanding that we stop erecting the condolence tents and that we limit ourselves to a funeral” to avoid having to receive – with at least drinks – a crowd of guests, adds this doctor by profession.
If everyone has reduced the consumption of meat, chicken or pastries for special occasions, one food remains: bread. Because they are still subsidized in state bakeries, small baked pancakes are now on every table, reports Mr. Abdelal.
“Before, families prided themselves on eating hand-kneaded bread at home”, he explains. For them, “it was shameful to eat bread made outside”. But now that the flour price and cereals has officially increased by 70% in one year, “everyone is queuing in front of the bakeries”.