Rising costs spell doom for Egyptian village traditions

Multi-day weddings, feeding the bereaved and homemade bread are all becoming things of the past in rural Egypt, as centuries-old traditions are steadily squeezed by a punishing economic crisis

From the south to the north of their country, more and more Egyptians – crushed under the weight of 33.9 percent annual inflation, as of March – are having to abandon once-cherished rituals of celebration and mourning.

In the Nile Delta, grooms once threw elaborate bachelor parties before their weddings, erecting large traditional tents, hiring bands and butchering cattle to feed guests from far and wide. "Hardly anyone does it anymore," said 33-year-old engineer Mohamed Shedid from his home town of Quweisna in Menoufia, 70 kilometres north of Cairo. "We used to blame it on COVID, but then immediately afterwards everyone was hit by the economic crisis." As a result, the price of meat has been pushed beyond the reach of most families.

Even before Egypt's current crisis – worsened by Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, which destabilised crucial food imports – 30 percent of the population were living below the poverty line and the same number were vulnerable to doing so, according to the World Bank.

Egyptian pound loses half its value

At the other end of the country, in the Nubian south where tourists flock to see ancient Pharaonic temples by the Nile River, "soaring costs mean our weddings and funerals aren't what they once were", said Omar Maghrabi, a 43-year-old Nubian language teacher. "Things are really hard: families need the money we once spent on these events just to keep households running."

A veiled women looking at a bridal gown (image: Mohammed Huwais/AFP/Getty Images) — No one wants a wedding on a budget: weddings in Nubian villages – renowned for their long extravagant parties – are no longer three-day, nine-meal affairs to which the entire town is invited. "A few months ago, there was a kind of agreement among the villages to make weddings more affordable," said Maghrabi. "Now the hosts only have to offer a light dinner" instead of the old festivities, which used to last "up to a week for the richest families"

In a year, the Egyptian pound has lost nearly half of its value, pushing consumer prices to more than double in the import-dependent country. Weddings in Nubian villages – renowned for their long extravagant parties – are no longer three-day, nine-meal affairs to which the entire town is invited.

"A few months ago, there was a kind of agreement among the villages to make weddings more affordable," said Maghrabi. "Now the hosts only have to offer a light dinner" instead of the old festivities, which used to last "up to a week for the richest families". With everyone keeping an iron grip on their purse strings, brides have also grown less discerning when it comes to wedding rings.

"Rings had to be a certain weight of gold before," the teacher said, but they have now grown finer and lighter. With newlyweds unable to keep up with skyrocketing gold prices, the highest Muslim authority in Egypt said in March there was no religious objection to swapping gold for cheaper alternatives, namely silver.

Funeral traditions impacted

In the tightly-knit agricultural villages of Upper Egypt, which extend southwards from Cairo along the narrow green strip of the Nile Valley, funerals are a communal affair. With each death, families rush to bring convoys of food trays to the deceased's relatives, who quickly run out of storage space and call on neighbours and guests to help rid them of the feasts.

But now, "it's agreed that only the immediate family will cook for the bereaved", former parliamentarian Mohamed Refaat Abdel Aal, 68, explained from his village of Al-Adadiya in Qena, 500 kilometres south of Cairo. "Some families are also suggesting that we limit ourselves to just the funeral, and forgo the wake," he adds, which at the bare minimum means serving drinks to guests offering condolences.

In this file photo a woman prepares traditional bread for the family at her home at Zerzara village on the west bank of the Nile river off of Egypt‘s southern city of Aswan on 26 February 2022 (image: Khaled Desouki/AFP) — Baking bread at home – a tradition under threat: in Upper Egypt, it was a source of pride for families always to make their own flatbread. "It used to be shameful for families in villages to go and buy bread from a bakery. It would mean the house had grown lazy and complacent," Abdel Aal said. But with the cost of grain rising 70 percent in a year, he added that "everyone is lining up outside bakeries" run by the government

No commodity has been left undisturbed by price hikes, including simple beverages, coffee and – catastrophically for rural households that once cherished their baking skills – flour. Traditional flatbread is a staple on every table in every Egyptian village, town and megacity. But in Upper Egypt, it was a source of pride for families always to make their own.

"It used to be shameful for families in villages to go and buy bread from a bakery. It would mean the house had grown lazy and complacent," Abdel Aal said. But with the cost of grain rising 70 percent in a year, he added that "everyone is lining up outside bakeries" run by the government.

At least they can get subsidised bread there – even if it tastes nothing like what they would make at home. (AFP)