It’s a shame how many old traditions vanish from our lives into extinction. Modern technology eroding away at icons that are synonymous with events and festivals that have managed to survive the tests of time.
Ramadan being a time of spiritual rituals, charity and tradition, I always loved the nostalgic feel the month brings along every year. And as a child at this time of year my fixations were the colourful fanous (lantern) and to stay up long enough to hear the mesaharaty passing through the streets calling for people to wake up.
The mesaharaty walks through the neighborhood shortly before dawn, calling on to people to wake up to take el Sohour (the last meal before they begin the fasting of the new day). Traditionally he would walk through the streets and alleys beating a small drum to a simple rhythm and calling people by their names to wake up!
The mesaharaty tradition goes back to the early days of Islam. Bilal Ibn Maktoom was the first mesaharaty in Islam and he used to call people from the top of the mosque to stop eating. The tradition started in Egypt in the year 238 AH (Hijri) with Antaba Bin Ishaq, the ruler of Egypt, himself walking from Fustat City (old Cairo) to Amr Ibn Al-Aas Mosque singing " e'bad Allah tasaharo " (worshipers of Allah, eat Sohour). In time, the drum was introduced as an instrument to assist the mesaharaty.
During Ramadan people usually stay up late, accommodating the mesaharaty perfectly because he makes so much noise in the early hours that he can be heard for several blocks in all directions. He does not get a fixed salary but depends on receiving donations from the neighborhood at the end of Ramadan, when the people whose names have been called donate money. Though the mesaharaty may not know all his neighbors by name as he did in the past, many continue the tradition of drumming and chanting for people to wake up to eat. Although the alms he gets may not be much to put bread on the table, the expression of excitement lighting up a child's face is sometimes satisfaction enough. In the old days, the mesaharaty was accompanied by the children of the neighborhood who helped him beat his drum and call for sohour.
As half the month of Ramadan has passed now, yesterday was the first I've heard of the mesaharaty in years! I admit to having the same nostalgic excitement , to have been up long enough to hear him calling, as i did as a child! The mesaharaty may be extinct in the urban areas, but they are still found in some parts of Cairo and in the villages in the countryside.
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