The Harim and the Purdah: Studies of Oriental WomenCooper, Elizabeth
Religion
The Harim and the Purdah: Studies of Oriental Women
Cooper, Elizabeth
East Asia -- Social life and customs; Women -- East Asia
The woman’s life seems to centre around her children, since it is this
evidence of Allah’s blessing that makes her greatest happiness. A great
part of their talk is involved in the discussion of their children’s
ailments, the remedies, their children’s education and life in general.
There are no nurseries in Egypt, and both boys and girls live within the
harim until they are seven years old, when the boy, if he does not go to
school, has a tutor and lives in the selam-lik. When, as at present,
Government schools are established in every small town and village in
Egypt, both boys and girls go to school. The girl is kept strictly harim
even in the school, and the teachers are women, who guard carefully from
men’s eyes the girls who are entrusted to them for the day.
Besides visiting with their friends or relatives, the Egyptian women go
to weddings, where they look upon the dancing and hear the singing from
their places behind the screens, or they make pilgrimages to the tombs
of saints or holy men, where they pray for the health of their children;
or, if they have not been so fortunate as to have children, they pray
for that blessing. They do not pray _to_ the saints, as even Mohammed
himself cannot answer prayers, but they believe that the austere lives
passed by these holy men will intercede for them with the Great and One
God.
An Egyptian friend of mine, telling me of the efficacy of one of the
places of pilgrimage in the cure of eye troubles, said:—
“Yes, I believe in these charms obtained at the tomb of some of the
marabouts, and I have been on several pilgrimages, although it is not
much encouraged in our family. You saw my brother’s wife to-day. She has
visited the tomb of every saint in the vicinity of Cairo, but it is just
because she is restless and wants to get out. She cares no more about
the saints than you do, but it gives her an opportunity to get away from
my mother. My life, that you think so restricted, is wildly exciting to
what it was when I was a girl at home. Mother is most conservative, and
will not even allow a man-servant near the harim. Her cook has never
seen her, although he has been in the family since I was a baby. Here in
the country I have men-servants who see me unveiled, but they are the
descendants of slaves who were in the family of my husband for
generations, and that is permitted if we are not too orthodox.”
I noticed while visiting friends in the country with this progressive,
educated Egyptian woman that if we passed an ordinary fellah, or
workman, she did not take care to cover her face. If we met an overseer
or a man above the farmer class, she very carefully drew her veil across
her face, leaving only the eyes visible.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account