Every year on the Monday following Coptic Easter Sunday, all Egyptians across the country unite to celebrate Sham El-Naseem.
Literally translated from Arabic as “smell the breeze,” the national holiday is one of the country’s oldest continuous celebrations that transcends class and religion; this year it falls on May 6 today!
The event has its origins in ancient times, with celebrations dating back thousands of years today it is considered the first official day of Spring.
In the third dynasty, between 2650 – 2575 BC, ancient Egyptians celebrated Shemu, a spring festival that was held to coincide with the spring equinox and the “low water” or “harvest” season. Each year, the Nile River would flood its banks to fertilise farmers’ fields.
When the water retreated, they harvested their crops. Shemu celebrated the beginning of this harvest. The Egyptians would offer salted fish, lettuce, and spring onions to the various deities. Like many spring and Easter festivals across the world, eggs, the ancient symbols of rebirth and fertility, were an important part of the celebration; they would be boiled and decorated for the occasion. Some people would even write wishes on the eggs in the hopes that the gods would fulfill them overnight.
Today people come together and celebrate with picnics that include boiled painted eggs, plaited bread, salted and smoked fish, and green leaves such as lettuce and spring onions. These foods reminisce of the festival’s ancient origins.
Source:
An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, Edward William Lane, p. 489.
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