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Sunday, March 22, 2009

A wedding and a funeral

When we were in Luxor in January, we happened across a funeral procession. Andrew snapped a picture.

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When we were in the Khan yesterday, we happened across a wedding procession. I snapped a picture.

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I can’t tell you much about the details of either weddings or funerals here since I have been invited to neither. And it’s hard to separate the different traditions into culture verses religion. I know a lot more about Indian weddings and funerals than I do about Egyptian weddings or funerals, although most of what I know I learned from Bollywood.

There are some similar traditions, though. Cultures naturally influence each other, especially in the case of a shared religion, in this case, Islam.

Street processions seem fairly popular in both places.

Also, wearing the color red on your wedding day; although white is becoming more and more popular thanks to Western influence.

Obviously I have more questions than answers.

1 comment:

  1. So funny... white only became a colour for western weddings in the last 200 years. And it had nothing to do with virginity - it was about being rich enough to afford a dress that was completely white! We've attached all sorts of traditions to the colour that have nothing to do with it.
    But that was just a random tangent. I've never been to a Middle Eastern wedding either - though my family has been to one or two. Turkish weddings involve processions and dancing and brightly coloured dresses and a LOT of gold. Anyway. I'm just blabbing on really, aren't I...

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