Egypt : The People :: essays research papers

Egypt The PeopleApproximately 32,500,000 people live in Egypt. Peasant conjure upers calledfellahin make up over 60 percentage of the population. But less than 4 percent ofEgypts land is suitable for farming. Before the leaders of the 1952 revolutionintroduced land reform, less than 2 percent of the landowners owned half(a) of theland available for farming. Most of the fellahin were tenants or owned verytiny farms. A man who owned 3 to 5 acres was considered well-off. Now no oneis permitted to own more than 50 acres, and the average Egyptian farm isgenerally much smaller than that.An Egyptian farmers main tools are the hoe, a straightforward plow, and thesakia, or waterwheel. The fellah, his wife, and their children all worktogether in the fields. The dreary routine of their lives is relieved only on afew occasions-the group prayer in the mosques on Fridays, religious feasts, andfamily events such as weddings or the circumcisions of young boys.A farmers most valuable possession is the water buffalo, cow, or oxthat helps him with the heavy farm work. The water buffalo or ox draws the plow,turns the waterwheel, and pulls the nowraj. The nowraj is a wooden platformmounted on four or five iron disks. The sharpened edges of the disks analyse thestalks of wheat so that the grain can be separated from the chaff. The waterbuffalo or cow also supplies the fellahs family with milk and with calves thatcan be sold. precise often the fellah shares his house with his animals. This isunsanitary, but it is the farmers preferred way of protecting them. The theftof an animal could mean economic catastrophe for the poor fellah.The fellah wears a loose, long like robe called a gallabiyea, loosecotton pants, and a wool cap, which he makes himself. For special events hemakes a turban by folding a unclouded sash around the cap. Flat, yellow slipperscomplete the fellahs outfit.The fellah, the wife of the fellah, wears dresses with long sleeves andtrailing flounces and a blac k veil, which she sometimes uses to cover her face.On market days and some other special occasions the women wear earrings, necklaces,bracelets, and anklets. These ornaments are usually made of beads, silver,glass, copper, or gold. They make a pleasant musical sound as the fellah walksalong the dust-covered lanes of the village.Most of Egypts fellahin live in the villages along the Nile. Thevillages invariably look gray because the houses are whitewashed only forimportant events suck as weddings.