together and take a felucca in which they pass the day on the river. Each brings some flowers as a symbol of spring, which they tie in a bunch to the bow of the boat.
The Saturday before Shemm en-Nesîm is called Sebet en-Nûr (“Saturday of Light”) when eggs are painted various colours are eaten. The boys day: “If you don’t eat an egg, your eye will swell.” The eve of Shemm en-Nesîm corresponds to the Christian Easter Eve.
The Copts believe that ostrich eggs are hung up in their churches to remind them that as the eggs are hung on high, so should their souls be lifted up towards God. Originally, they say, they were hung up as symbols of the resurrection.
“The Mohammedans were called to Egypt by the Copts who were oppressed by the Greeks. When the Greeks eat, the Cops had to sit supporting the food-tray o top of their heads, and the Greeks after the meal wiped their fingers on the beards of the Copts. Hence the towel which the Coptic priests still wear over the right shoulders, and which they used in order to protect their beards from being defiled.”
In Cairo they say:
“Qibti Asyûti, Muslim Nemrussi, Yahûdi Morhébi,—el merkeb tirhraq,” “A Copt of Asyut, a Mohammedan from Nemrûs, a Jew from Western Africa— and the vessel will sink.” Nemrûs is the crockery quarter of the Cairo bazaars whose inhabtants are considered particularly sly and untrustworthy.
In Alexandria the pavoirs are Sicilians mixed with a few natives who have intermarried with them and adopted the Sicilian language and European clothes. They live as a separate community in the Place de la Baie, without religion and having their wives in common. Hence the children have no special parents. When Alexandria was bombarded in 1882 they defended themselves successfully from the mob.
