Christmas in Cairo

Merry Christmas to all of our Christian brothers and sisters who celebrate today in accordance with the Julian calendar. Among these include Coptic Christians, the spiritual descendants of the St. Mark the apostle who evangelized Egypt long before the introduction of Islam. Though there are many Christian denominations present in Egypt, the majority are part of the Coptic Orthodox Church under Pope Tawadros II, which is in full communion with the Church in Rome.

Modern mosaic outside of a church in Cairo, depicting the Holy Family's flight into Egypt.

My husband and I traveled to Egypt exactly two years ago, and were able to celebrate Christmas a second time that season. Tensions were particularly high at that time (and in fact they still are) since it had been less than one month since the deadly bombing outside St. Mark's Cathedral, the main Coptic cathedral in Cairo. We tacked these few days onto the beginning of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, both because visiting Egypt had long been a bucket list item for me and because of the importance of Egypt in the lives of the Holy Family, who fled there to escape Herod's Massacre of the Innocents shortly after Jesus' birth. This will be the beginning of a short series reflecting back on our pilgrimage, which was a tremendous blessing that has brought the Bible to life for us both.

Beautiful mosque outside of Cairo's night market.

After an uneventful series of flights from Seattle to Cairo, we disembarked in the late evening and headed straight for Cairo's night market. We had a limited amount of time to explore the city and were far too excited to go straight to the budget Airbnb where we were staying for the next two nights. The night market was a marvelous bustle of stalls and strolling shoppers. We stayed for a while at one particularly enchanting stand of handmade lamps where we purchased one small enough for our carry on luggage. We also sat outside a crowded cafe to try our first Turkish style coffee and be hassled by solicitors who were possibly even more relentless than those we encountered in Rome.

Our favorite spot at Cairo's night market.

A cacophony of calls to morning prayer from competing mosques woke us bright and early the next day. When we looked out our window we were amazed to be staring straight at the three largest pyramids on the outskirts of Cairo! Suddenly it really felt like we were in a different world. Unharnessed horses and camels were milling around the street below us, along with a mix of donkey carts and BMW cars. We walked for far too long down this far too busy street to a falafel breakfast spot where we feasted before meeting up with the guide we had hired for our tour of Giza.

The view from our Airbnb.

Our guide was fantastic! He had a few interesting theories on the pyramids which I am not sure would stand up to scrutiny, but for the most part he stuck to enthusiastically embellishing on widely accepted history.

At the top of the Grand Gallery.

The pyramids are enormous- much bigger than I ever could have imagined without seeing them in person. The stones at the base were so large that I found it impossible to imagine human beings moving them without the power of modern cranes and equipment. My favorite part of our entire trip to Cairo was going inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu. After a short climb up a few levels of the pyramid's exterior, we entered a winding passageway which then opened onto the amazingly tall but narrow Grand Gallery, a huge sloping hall in the in the middle of this man-made mountain. It was a long, steep climb up the top of the gallery, then another shorter hallway. In order to enter the King's Chamber, we had to duck almost to hands and knees to pass under two large stone slabs, giving the chamber an eerily claustrophobic feel. The room was smooth and empty, save for the large stone sarcophagus at the opposite end. It was strangely hot and stale in the chamber, and all sounds seemed dampened by the many layers of material between this center room and the pyramid's exterior.

Once outside, we hired a couple of camels for a short rife away from the complex into the desert. Camels seem much taller when you have to climb onto their humped backs and stay seated while they lurch to a stand. It was fun to feel how much the riders bump and sway, and surreal to look back across the desert at the ancient Necropolis.

Before visiting the Sphinx I was approached by a young Saudi Arabian teen girl, covered in black except for her eyelinered eyes and beautifully manicured fingers. She was very excited to try talking with me and insisted on taking Snapchat selfies with her rhinestone-encrusted iphone. It was a fun and friendly exchange, and I will forever regret not taking a photo together with my own phone.

The Sphinx was a sight to behold, as was the intricate masonry of the walls surrounding it. Our guide explained to us that the true reason for its disfigurement was due to the revulsion of Arab Islamic conquerors at the pagan worship of Ancient Egypt. Our guide then drove us across the city through rush hour traffic to the apartment of our next guide. This allowed us plenty of time to hear stories of his family and life in Cairo. He is a Copt and a Christian (the two typically go hand in hand) so his family's experience of Egypt was very interesting to hear.

Our guide for the rest of the day was a friend of a friend, and was terrifically welcoming and generous with her time. Her name is Nazli, and she spent her entire afternoon and evening of Christmas Eve showing us around Old Cairo, including many of its beautiful and ornate Coptic churches and a few of the synagogues and mosques. Also a Copt and Christian, she had also grown up in Cairo and had lived through various levels of political and religious oppression. She treated us to a delicious dinner and we continued touring churches late into the night, which allowed us to hear many of the congregations beginning their chanting and singing before the midnight masses were held.

Everywhere we went had security personnel, concrete barriers and metal detectors to prevent terror attacks, but especially the churches. It was heartbreaking to think that so many people worship with the possibility of a shooting or bombing lingering in the doorway. Finally, we enjoyed a cup of tea with Nazli while she showed us photos and shared tips from her own recent trip to Israel.

On Christmas morning we again made our way to Nazli's inviting apartment, where we were met with a delicious Egyptian Christmas breakfast which my husband reminisces about to this day. The hospitality we were treated to by Nazli made our short trip wonderfully welcoming.

We made a quick tour of the Egyptian Museum that morning on our own. The museum is so full of ancient statuary and stone tablets that its side yard is full of unmarked stonework still exposed to the elements, and the entry chamber looks as crowded as if they were in the process of moving. I have always been fascinated by every kind of ancient history and witnessing the progression of the Egyptian culture through so many long ages fulfilled so many childhood dreams.

At last it was time to hurry to the airport and take off to the rest of our voyage.