Forty Day ceremony in Qena

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In Egypt, forty days after a person has passed away, a memorial service is held. This is celebrated by both Copts and Muslims and is thought to be a Pharaonic custom. We took the overnight train from Cairo down to Qena, a city in Upper Egypt better known for the nearby Temple of Hathor at Dendara. It is a ten hour train ride which is not enjoyable at night as you can't see out the windows and its even less comfortable than a longhaul flight. And you don't even think of using the toilets on the train. Some Egyptians don't even try to sleep, they just play with their phone ringtones or go in the galley carriage and smoke and talk loudly and leave the carriage doors open. The most remarkable thing about Qena since our visit 3 years ago is how clean the city is now, apparently the new governor has made a point of tidying up the town which now sports the new name of "the white city". We were taken on a tour of memorable churches, one of them The Church of Peter and Paul had a convent, orchard and sewing workshop within its complex. There was also a small underground chapel built below a crypt for deceased priests - at the time of our visit someone had been recently buried and the smell of decay permeated the chapel. The police approached us to ask what we were doing and where we are from (security is tight in Qena, and we had been anticipating problems with an independent visit.) When they found out none of us were American, they let us go on our way. The following day we went to the memorial service. at one of the other churches we had visited, St Marana. It was my first Coptic service. I had heard that they are long. Ladies sat on the left and men sat on the right. Erin was the only male in our group so ended up by himself. It began with a priest waving a censer smoking out the church, accompanied by liturgies, priests singing, cymbals and later a sermon. I surprised myself when I could understand the basic gist of the sermon - since we were 40 days after Easter, the service coincided with the Ascension of Christ, and the sermon was about the blessings of the ascension. Even after the service had begun, people including clergy that were part of the ceremony turned up late. The priest blessed huge flat loaves of bread and around three hours after it had begun, people were invited up for communion. At this point we decided to go outside for a breather. The service was four hours long altogether, and afterwards men and women were guided into a hall (through separate entrances) to have a cup of tea and a small loaf of bread. We hadn't had breakfast, so scoffed ours immediately. Everyone else looked like they were taking them home.

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Photos

Erin
Erin in borrowed galabeya

Dates
Erin hadn't seen fresh dates before. In the orchard in St Peter and Paul Church

Comments

[sharongboyd]

my ptolemy book says it was 70 days. how come u guys always look so grumpy in pictures. you're like that painting of the farmer and his wife in front of the barn with the pitchfork

[kiwibyrd]

Personally I drink as little as possible and just hang on. Not sure about significance of churches but they all contain relics of saints. Egyptians never turn up on time, we went to the Arabic Anglican service which supposedly started at 7 but no-one was there till about 7.30 and then it started at 8.