Egyptian Festivals

Egyptian festivals include both the ancient Egyptian celebrations as well as the Islamic and certain Christian festivals. Presently, the Islamic culture, being the dominant religion, all recognized public holidays and celebrations are sanctioned according to the Islamic holidays. Moreover, Islam is the state religion of Egypt. Though Christian festivals are inclusive of the public holidays, they are far limited. Ancient Egypt celebrated many festivals, most of them being the traditional religious festival or the birthday of the Pharaohs and queens of Egypt.

These festivals of Egypt are now either abandoned or observed by minority. It has been observed that the ancient festivals of Egypt are celebrated throughout the year. This marks the prosperous condition of Egypt in those times. The Egyptian calendar starts from the month of June and ends in the month of July.

One of the most important Egyptian festivals is the Leylet en Nuktah. This day is fixed as the day of rising of the waters in river Nile, prior to the flooding of the banks. The flood was welcomed in ancient Egypt, as it would leave behind fertile soil for successful agriculture. The rule was that if the floods delayed, then young women would be sacrificed in the Nile River till the waters were seen to rise.