Which culture do you think has more than six thousand years of recorded history? Whatever you were thinking, I bet you were close to the actual answer. Egyptian culture has a long period of recorded history, and by now you know the culture of the week! Stay tuned to read the rest of the article to learn more about this fascinating country and its culture.

Many people are doubtful about where Egypt is located. Some people predict that it is located in Europe and when they hear the correct answer, they reaction is often reacting startled in shock. So where exactly is Egypt located on the world map? Egypt is located in the North Eastern section of Africa bordering the country of Palestine, Israel, Libya and Sudan. The capital city of Egypt is, Cairo.  Before the Arab invasion is AD 639, the official language of this country was known as Coptic which was a language descended from ancient Egyptians.

Religion is a very important aspect of this country’s culture. Islam is practiced by the majority of the citizens living in the country. There are few obligations on which Muslims should accomplish per day. For instance, they have an obligation to pray 5 times a day (at dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset and last but not least in the evening). On Fridays usually everything is closed, as it is known to be a holy day. For most of us, our weekends are from Saturday-Sunday but differently, Egyptians make their weekend from Thursday-Friday. During the month of Ramadan (fasting holy month), Muslims must fast from dawn to dusk and are not allowed to swallow any kind of humankind resources for 6 hours per day.

Wall paintings of Pharaohs had a immense impact on this culture in terms of visual rules and meanings. Meanings because each part of the painting had different stories behind it, perhaps showing some important events that occured and had impacted the country and its historical culture. Egyptian civilization is renowned for its colossal pyramids, colonnades and monumental tombs. Egyptian music on the other hand is a matter of native Mediterranean, African and Western elements.

Important Egyptian festivals are Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, Leylet en Nuktah, Coptic Christmas,
Sham al-Naseem, Mawlid an-Nabi. The first one is the fasting celebration which I talked about earlier, the second one is the worshiping of the Nile River because of the good resources and the women who were sacrificed to please their gods. The third festival is to celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January where regardless the religion, everyone joins this festival and have fun together and with their families. And the Mawlid an-Nabi is a Islamic festival honoring the birth of prophet Mohammed.

Have you ever tried Lebanese food? Well, Egyptian cuisine is homogeneous. One of the well known dishes is known as Ful Medammes which is the most common traditional breakfast, in a Egyptian diet. Another well known dish is known as Falafel (also known as Ta’meya) and it is a breakfast filled with various kinds of ingredients for instance chopped cilantro, parsley, white onion, garlic and leek, giving it its vibrant green color. Another well known Egyptian dish is Koshari, which is a popular dish that is a type of street food. It contains rice, macaroni, lentils, and chickpeas with caramelized onions, red sauce and other finalizing ingredients.

As you can see, this culture is varied and and has a large history that has created and been modified to fit our modern world today! Egypt seems pretty fascinating if you ask me, don’t you think so?