Confessions of an Egyptian-Palestinian: Why Being Raised in a Mixed Household Provided The Perfect Cultural Blend
by Rahma Haggag
Have you imagined before living with two families that have different cultures and ways of thinking?
Let me tell you about my own experience of being Egyptian-Palestinian and being raised in two families that hold two different nationalities and each of them have their own culture. People may think that all the Arab countries are mostly similar to each other in their way of thinking and the way they deal with any life situation but this is not true at all.
Despite that Egypt and Palestine are neighboring countries but the Egyptians and the Palestinians have literally different minds and traditions.
Furthermore, let me tell you about the daily problem that we face at home which is the “food!”
At the beginning of my family’s life, the food problem was a real struggle. As my mother used to always cook Palestinian food that my father knows nothing about. In addition, Palestinian mothers always add zaatar to any type of food which is also not very well-known here in Egypt.
However, over time, both families started to get used to each other’s types of food year after year and found that both types are delicious. Here are just a few of the most delicious Egyptian vs Palestinian meals.
- Kushari vs Mjadra
- Hawawshi vs Msakhan
- Mulukhiyah vs Mulukhiyah wara’
Children at a young age may not recognize the differences between the two families, but when they grow up and start to face life problems, they will definitely find that the traditions are not the same. For example, the marriage traditions in Palestine are that the bride’s family does not pay anything through the marriage process. But in Egypt, the groom’s and the bride’s families take part in the marriage expenses.
Egyptian weddings are usually held as mixed weddings which means that the men and women party together in the same place which is totally different if we compared it to Palestinian weddings. The Palestinian weddings’ old or popular traditions were that the men party in a place separated from the women’s place and the men go to the women’s party only when they give the bride her gold gifts. Nowadays some Palestinian families started to have mixed weddings parties similar to Egypt.
When someone passes away in Egypt, people always wear black as a way of showcasing grief. However, when someone passes away in Palestine, they always wear white clothes as they aim to look on the bright side that they moved on to a better place.
Stepping away from the sadness, private life for the girls in Palestine is one of the most important things there. Palestinian families especially in Gaza, usually do not accept that the girl posts a lot of her pictures on social media. They may accept this to happen just on special occasions or from time to time. In contrast with Egypt, the girls here are free to post whatever they want and whenever they want.
Finally, we can say that it may seem very hard to live in the same home with two families that have different types of traditions and ways of thinking. But honestly, it is one of the best experiences that I’ve had in my whole life. It is very interesting to know more about different countries with their totally different traditions and cultures. It becomes somehow funny in some situations when everyone takes different decisions according to the environment that they were raised in but I gained so much knowledge from my both grandfathers, the Egyptian and the Palestinian ones, about the history of the two countries which is really interesting.
Being Egyptian-Palestinian is something I wouldn’t change for the world, and I cherish it every day.
WE SAID THIS: TO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY OF HAVING TWO FAMILIES FROM TWO DIFFERENT COUNTRIES WITH DIFFERENT CULTURES IS ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING THINGS EVER!
