WEBVTT

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[old film crackling]

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[chanting in foreign language]

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Luxor temple, where the divine boats

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of the gods once sailed

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in the ancient Egyptian feast of Opet,

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is now the setting for a new celebration, the Moulid,

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or birth feast of its patron saint, Sidi Abu al Haggag.

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His domed shrine is perched high above the first pylon,

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and when the pagan temple was subsumed in sand,

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it was the most prominent feature of the landscape.

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[chanting in foreign language]

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When the festival is to begin, there is a sign.

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They raise up the mast pole with a pennant on the top

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and sing to the raising up of the everlasting.

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After dawn prayers, a buffalo,

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symbol of the unity of the 50,000 descendants,

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is slaughtered at the foot of the shrine.

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The entire town of Luxor was once contained

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within the precinct of the temple,

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and so it remained until the 1920s.

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The sacred space was built on in layers,

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from the Greco-Roman to the Coptic Christian.

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And in the 10th century, a mud brick minaret was built

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to attest to the advent of Islam.

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The descendants used to live amid the ruins,

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as Hajab Dullah explains.

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[speaking in foreign language]

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Sidi Abu al Haggag reputedly came to Luxor from Iraq

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in the 12th century,

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and his coming is celebrated in a legend,

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which describes how he usurped power

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from the matriarch of Luxor,

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and by merely winding a thread around the town,

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achieved dominion over it.

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[people speaking faintly]

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Once, an expedition tried to remove the shrine

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of Abu al Haggag to excavate the temple beneath,

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but the arm of the man wielding a sledgehammer

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was immediately transfixed,

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and plans for excavation subsequently dropped.

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[birds calling]

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Inside the crypt is a medieval door called the secret door,

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and like the false door of the ancient Egyptians,

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it is the passageway in and out of the celestial saint.

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[speaking in foreign language]

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Before it was removed, it was Hajab Dullah,

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eldest of the so-called boatmen,

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who would climb up the mast pole

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and plant a pennant at the top.

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Now the complex of electricity poles is known

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as the mast pole.

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In the ancient Egyptian sky religion, the notion of god,

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or the divine, was linked to the idea

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of a celestial pole of Heaven,

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around which the circumpolar stars would revolve.

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Moreover, the act of climbing a mast pole is a ritual

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which was performed in Luxor festivals

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as late as the second or third century AD.

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Men in ostrich plumes would celebrate the rejuvenation

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of the king\'s power by ascending a mast pole.

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The djed pillar, another divine emblem,

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was similarly raised up and depicted

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as the embodiment of Osiris,

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god of resurrection and rebirth.

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In fact, the image of a wrapped pole,

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which signified the presence of the divine,

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was the hieroglyphic sign for god, netjer.

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This wrapped mast,

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which marks the shrine of another Luxor saint,

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suggests that the custom of marking the divine presence

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with a mast pole has been retained

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in popular tradition for millennia.

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[rhythmic drumming and clapping]

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There is a crescendo of excitement

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in the days preceding the climactic Great Night.

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[singing in foreign language]

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Awad\'Ullah Abdejilel, singer of the Egyptian epic,

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has come to the Moulid honor the saint.

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He tells the tale of Mimuna, who, like the Queen of Luxor,

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converts to Islam but then is tortured by her pagan owners

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until she is redeemed by a vision of the prophet Muhammad.

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As a form of service to God, members of religious orders,

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some holy men and women who seem to have attained

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a special form of communion with God and the saints,

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spend their lives decamping from one moulid to another.

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Each Sufi, tariqa, or brotherhood,

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erects its own tent to receive pilgrims.

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The first day is the day of slaughtering.

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[speaking in foreign language]

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To drink water at the shrine is another way

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of imbibing grace and the act is performed

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by those who call themselves devotees

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of the house of the prophet.

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[speaking in foreign language]

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[noisy clamor]

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These devotees erect magnificent tents

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of red, green, and white applique,

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and at dusk and through the night,

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the initiates performed dhikr,

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the whirling in remembrance of God,

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which permits the initiated to enter

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into an ecstatic state of oneness with God.

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[speaking in foreign language]

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[many people speaking loudly and chanting]

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[speaking in foreign language]

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[lively music with chanting]

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[chanting in foreign language]

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[speaking in foreign language]

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In saints\' festivals in Upper Egypt,

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traditional religious boundaries become less significant,

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and Christians and Muslims venerate each other\'s saints.

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This chanting in the tomb is performed by Coptic Christians

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in the ancient antiphonal mode

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of the one who begins and the one who replies.

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[chanting in foreign language]

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As the crowds arrive by train from the countryside,

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the excitement mounts.

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[speaking in foreign language]

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Above the threshold of the tomb are two model boats,

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identical to boats found over the threshold

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of an ancient Egyptian king, Pepi II.

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[chanting in foreign language]

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In the suffocating heat and haze of a sandstorm,

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traditional stick dancing contests are taking place,

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in which each man tries

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to break through his opponent\'s defenses

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without inflicting injury.

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As with the climbing of the mast pole,

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this form of ritual is perhaps derived

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from ancient ritual combat performed at the king\'s jubilee,

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in which men sparred with sticks and even lotus wands

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to celebrate the feast.

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[festive music over noisy clamor]

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[many people speaking over each other]

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[speaking in foreign language]

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[birds calling]

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[people speaking in foreign language]

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[speaking in foreign language]

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As every offering to another human being

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is an offering to the saint,

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this tradition of mutual reciprocity seems

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to engender a sense of communal and spiritual wellbeing.

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[birds calling]

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[speaking in foreign language]

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[driving drum beat]

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[speaking in foreign language]

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[singing in foreign language]

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The crush increases on the eve of the Great Night,

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as families stake out a place to watch the revelries

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or perform the dhikr.

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[noisy clamor of crowded street]

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At dusk, some local orders process around the town

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with drums and flags of their particular sheik.

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Whereas such members of brotherhoods are often called Sufis,

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this word is not applied by these people to themselves.

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They are not actually familiar with the word

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and instead call themselves devotees

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of the house of the prophet.

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In a supreme test of faith,

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the Rafai brotherhood perform the Dosa,

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the treading by the sheik on blades of swords,

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poised in the mouths of adepts.

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The grace of the saint miraculously intercedes

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and no blood flows.

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[energetic music]

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The equestrian games, or mirmah, are another ritual contest

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in which there is no winner.

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Men display their prowess by pelting down the strip,

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only to stop abruptly at the end.

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And whereas in ancient times,

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the trumpet-like flutes called zumara

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would accompany processions of boats like the Opet feast,

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they now accompany the jousting.

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[blaring zumara music]

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[noisy clamor]

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In the confines of the tents,

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devotees eat the customary evening meal,

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which once was consumed around the mast pole.

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[many people speaking in foreign language]

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[speaking in foreign language]

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Ecumenism is the spirit of the feast.

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[speaking in foreign language]

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[singing in foreign language]

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[many people speaking]
[drumming]

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The blind sheik, Iberim, has been invited to perform

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in an open performance as an offering to the saint.

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He sings to he who loves the prophet.

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[singing in foreign language]
[percussive music]

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[speaking in foreign language]

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[speaking in foreign language]

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On the day of the great procession,

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one family is designated to go out at dawn

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and pick the rough halfa grass

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which will then be plaited into ropes for the litters.

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Every family or devotee has his custom or sacred vocation.

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[speaking in foreign language]

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[singing in foreign language]

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After purification with incense,

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the wooden structures are affixed to the camels,

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and applique canopies placed on top.

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These funerary cakes, left as offerings for the saint,

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are processed down the steps of the shrine

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by this Mahdi or dervish.

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At the same time, the sacred boats of the saint

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are being regaled to be pulled around Luxor town.

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As Ahmed Assouti stressed, these are not ordinary boats.

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[speaking in foreign language]

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[singing and clapping]

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It is argued by some

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that these sacred boats represent the actual boats

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the saint would use to navigate the Nile.

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However, it happened in 1917,

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on the death of his oldest living descendant, Sheik Ussed,

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that the boat of the saint was taken out

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and processed in the funerary ritual,

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as if the repository of his divine spirit.

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[speaking in foreign language]

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[noisy clamor]
[horns honking]

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Traditions like these appear

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to have been impervious to change.

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This remarkable film footage, shot in 1925,

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shows how the boats of the saint were still being pulled

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along the enclosure walls of Luxor Temple

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and processed passed the famous old mast pole.

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According to the boatmen,

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the flutes which accompany the boats here,

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and were a feature of the Opet feast procession,

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have now been officially proscribed

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as too secular an instrument

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to accompany the procession of the saint.

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[singing in foreign language]

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Luxor was the scene of an influx of Egyptologists

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and tourists following Howard Carter\'s discovery

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of Tutankhamen\'s tomb in 1922.

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As part of his mission to record native life,

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Harry Burton, photographer for the Metropolitan Museum,

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shot this footage of the moulid.

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At that time, the saint\'s shrine was at ground level.

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The temple was still half buried in the Earth,

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and the ground around it was studded with the tombs

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of 41 other saints and four ancient churches.

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From the mast pole, camels regaled in colored silks

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would roam the streets of Luxor, then as now,

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to herald the start of the procession.

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At that time, pilgrims would enter the shrine

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from within the Luxor Temple complex,

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by the buried statues of Rameses.

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[noisy clamor]
[drumming]

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The traditional events of the saint\'s festival,

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the jousting, the stick contest, the dhikr,

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and even the final service for the saint,

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would take place by the mast pole.

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In 1925, the procession of canopy litters,

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flanked by arches of palms, would embark along the Corniche.

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The fact that the litters are called coffins, tawabit,

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suggests the symbolic nature of the procession.

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There used to be 14 canopies in the procession.

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Every sheik would go around.

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Sheik Mussah, for example, even though he was still alive,

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would be paraded in his coffin litter.

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And the old queen who ruled Luxor, Sitt Barzah,

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her own canopy as well.

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They used to set it up deliberately leaning backwards

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to symbolize a woman reclining.

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Why do the boats still process?

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Perhaps in emulation of the ancient Egyptian idea

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that divine energy can be reborn

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through the act of going round.

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Of the saint, it is said,

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\"He is the one who makes us feel renewed.\"

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The reliefs engraved on Luxor Temple are living proof

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of the vivacity of the Opet feast procession.

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The sacred barques of the gods, topped with shrines,

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and enveloped by canopies,

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would be borne on the shoulders of priests

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from Karnak Temple to the brink of the Nile.

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Even the texts of the chants survive.

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Praise to Amun in your barques

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on the beautiful feast of Opet.

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The procession was a jubilant affair.

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The sensor would procede the boat, saying,

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\"Purify the way, make it pure.\"

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Then came men ululating, shouting,

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brandishing sticks, and beating drums.

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It was a great honor then, as it is now, to pull the boats.

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Moreover, the boatmen would stop and quaff a drink down,

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singing, \"For those who sail the ways,

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a drinking place is hewn.

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The sky is outstretched to the north and south,

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and the beloved of Amun-Ra-Kamutef, praised by the gods.\"

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At the temple, the calf would be slaughtered

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and offerings made, then the ritual act of consummation

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performed by the king and queen,

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who would then sail back on the waters of the inundation.

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[noisy clamor]

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Ironically now, the popular burlesque

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which accompanies the procession,

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features a transvestite queen who cavorts with her king

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in a travesty of a royal wedding.

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The sugar dolls sold at the festival also celebrate marriage

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and embody the blessing of the saint.

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Before the great procession gets underway,

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Hajab Dullah explains the order of events.

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[speaking in foreign language]`

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The tomb of Sitt Barzah, from whom the saint snatched power,

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was found to be buried next to Abu al Haggag.

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[speaking in foreign language]

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[noisy clamor]

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Once the boats have been moved into place,

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the boatmen shout out a cry to Abu al Haggag.

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[many people shouting]

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They set the time for noon, so the time was set.

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May you return, Abu al Haggag.

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As the eldest descendant comes down the stairs,

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the camels rise, and the procession embarks to the left,

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just as the saint wound his thread.

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[many people chanting in foreign language]

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[speaking in foreign language]

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[singing in foreign language]

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As in the Opet feast, when the boatmen stop at way stations

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to drink and be merry, those who pull the boats stop

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00:42:40.290 --> 00:42:42.510
at the house of the sheik\'s descendant

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00:42:42.510 --> 00:42:45.843
to quaff down sweet drinks and ingest blessing.

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00:42:46.792 --> 00:42:49.375
[noisy clamor]

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As they process, spectators throw peanuts,

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sweets, and small cakes on the floats.

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When Harry Burton filmed the procession

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00:44:39.870 --> 00:44:44.870
from this angle in 1925, he stood inside the Luxor Temple

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00:44:45.030 --> 00:44:47.910
where there were houses in pigeon cots.

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Now the same procession files past denuded ground,

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00:44:51.450 --> 00:44:53.853
though its outward form has not changed.

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[singing in foreign language]

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00:45:06.180 --> 00:45:09.420
When the procession ends, the solemn service for the saint

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is performed by the descendants on the eve of the full moon.

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It is a sacred night in Islam,

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since it is the night when the fate of every living soul

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is decided for the coming year,

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as well as the night the saint is believed to have died

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and ascended to Heaven.

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Prayers are intoned in the crypt,

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and those who attend eat a communal meal

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to imbibe directly the blessing of the saint.

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In the course of the procession,

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the ropes are believed to absorb the blessing of the saint

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and are kept as relics for the coming year.

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The sudden emptying of the square is interpreted

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as a sign of the saint\'s miraculous power.

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[speaking in foreign language]

349
00:47:19.740 --> 00:47:23.343
For the return, Abu al Haggag, for the return.

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[singing in foreign language]

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[old film crackling]