Gardens of a Sacred Landscape Reviews

How do Egyptian Muslims celebrate Ramadan? How do Copts—Egyptian Christians—celebrate Easter? What should you expect to find on the table when invited to eat in an Egyptian home? What do you say when an Egyptian colleague sneezes? Exactly what do Egyptians do with a mortar and pestle, a sieve, and a bag of nuts seven days after the birth of a baby? Samia Abdennour, once an outsider from Palestine, now thoroughly at home in Egypt, is here to tell you all about these matters—and many more. In a book that aims to introduce the unfamiliar newcomer or interested foreign reader to the hows, whats, and whys of Egyptians life, the author covers such diverse topics as birth, marriage, and death; religious festivals and fasting; food in the home and on the street; business etiquette and terms of politeness. She describes how some traditions differ between the two religious communities, the Muslims and the Copts, and how some customs are shared by all Egyptians—like the spring festival of Shamm al-Nisim (‘smelling the breezes’) that goes back to pharaonic times. With Egyptian Customs and Festivals, you need never be at a loss in a social situation in Egypt—or fail to understand what your neighbors are up to. Illustrated throughout with color photographs of daily life and special occasions, this fascinating and informative book is a must-have for anyone new to Egyptian culture.

Alexandria has had a checkered history since its foundation by Alexander the Great in 331 B.C. From its glorious days as the intellectual center of the Hellenistic and early Christian world, it declined into a near-forgotten backwater with a population of only a few thousand at the time of the French invasion of 1798. Renewed prosperity and commercial growth came in the nineteenth century under Muhammad ‘Ali. Today it is Egypt’s second city and the favorite summer resort of millions of Egyptians.

In this guide to one of the world’s great cities, Michael Haag explores Alexandria’s past and present in word and picture, from the ancient Pharos to the new Bibliotheca Alexandrina, from Anfushi to Montazah. He directs our curiosity not only toward the ancient monuments of the city and its fine Greco-Roman Museum and new National Museum, but also to the ambience of a more modern era, that cosmopolitan Alexandria alive with the literary echoes of Cavafy, Forster, and Durrell. Beautifully illustrated with 125 color photographs, this is a fascinating armchair tour of the pageant that is Alexandria.