Wedding part 2 – Katb al-Kitab

In Egypt we have one engagement and two weddings. It is because Egyptians generally love weddings and marriages and that is why they are really original from any other nation …

And imagine this way is since the Pharaoh`s time​. It’s really incredible that the whole wedding process is exactly the same for several thousand years. As I have already said, Egyptians are a truly incredible nation and that`s the reason why I love them so much.

So let’s introduce our “second wedding” today called “Katb al Kitab” and as I promised you in previous article, I’ll show you my personal photos from my own wedding.

I got married when I was twenty and I was incredibly proud and happy to have a wedding in Egypt – Alexandria! The truth is that I refused a lot of Egyptian traditions before the wedding because I was ashamed but I will definitely describe it all to you.

So the preparations for the wedding start a week exactly 7 days before the wedding. And it’s the same for both the groom and the bride. They do a variety beauty procedure throughout the week to beautify their bodies. The girl`s beauty procedure are best known for their facial masks, scented oil baths, sugar paste depilation, hairdresser, make up. And ofcourse must buy a new wedding dress, again in any other colour than white.    I personally had a pink dress.

Do you Enjoy this Article? Support us that we can reach more people who Love Egypt.

Men also use the face mask known as the Nile mud (pharaonic tradition), the hairdresser and the scented baths, and of course, buy a new tuxedo in black with a white shirt.

After a week of preparations, a separate ceremony comes. And we have two options where we want to celebrate the wedding. According to Islam in a mosque, where women and men celebrate separately or in wedding hall, where the bride and groom are together and everyone else is doing a big show. It depends on how much money you have, how much you want to spend on a wedding, or depends on your life preferences!

 

I had a wedding in a mosque because I wanted it to be truly Islamic wedding. And thus start a good life. However, I didn’t know how the ceremony exactly looks like and I even didn’t want to know, I wanted it as a surprise to me.

So my wedding started at 5 pm. All weddings in Egypt begin in the evening and end late at night, say at 12 o’clock midnight. So at home I dressed the wedding dress and I was delivered by car to the mosque. I went to the female part and my husband to the male part. The whole family and friends were waiting for us. It was a tremendous number of people, so about the entertainment was taken care of in advance.

The ceremony itself begins with prayer. When we all prayed, the drums of about 5 pieces were pulled out and we started to sing and dance. The tradition is that, of course, the bride is primarily dancing to show her skills. And how could I dance without a groom ?? Of course, belly dances are dancing: D and every other woman asks the bride to dance with her, and she will help her with the dancing or she will be beaten by such dancing duel. Meanwhile, drinking juices and desserts and sandwiches are given away.

Men have it very similar, they are singing, dancing, playing games, drinking and feasting. Before the end, the groom with the bride’s father made a deal in the mosque where the groom promises to take care of the bride and be with her until the end of her life.Then the groom will bring marriage papers to the bride to be signed and they leave the mosque together. Since then, they have been legitimately married – husbands.

But they don’t have an apartment yet, so the only thing they can do  is to spend their time together and give a kiss. Other things that generally make husbands are left for the third wedding.

However, after the ceremony, everyone gets in the car and goes to some beautiful place where the bridegroom can walk. At that time I chose Mansoura to walk with my husband on the beach by the sea in the moonlight..

But even while driving, people drums, sings, blows and the boys dance on the street and make fireworks so that everyone knows that “our family” has a wedding.

Unconventional wedding but really beautiful one and if I had the choice again, I would always choose the Egyptian one.

 

Books I wrote, you can read here:

1. Don´t fall in love with Egyptian man
2. Dining Like a Pharaoh