Sham El-Neisim is an Egyptian national holiday marking the beginning of spring. It always falls on the day after the Eastern Christian Easter (following the custom of the largest Christian denomination in the country, the Coptic Orthodox Church). Despite the Christian-related date, the holiday is celebrated by Egyptians regardless of religion.
The name of the holiday is derived from the Egyptian name of the Harvest Season, known as Shemu, which means a day of creation. According to annals written by Plutarch during the 1st century AD, the Ancient Egyptians used to offer salted fish, lettuce, and onions to their deities on this day.
After the Christianization of Egypt, the festival became associated with the other Christian spring festival, Easter. Over time, Shemu morphed into its current form and its current date, and by the time of the Islamic conquest of Egypt, the holiday was settled on Easter Monday. The Islamic calendar being lunar and thus unfixed relative to the solar year, the date of Sham el-Nessim remained on the Christian-linked date even after most Egyptians had become Muslims. As Egypt became Arabized, the term Shemu found a rough phono-semantic match in Sham el-Nessim, or "Smelling/Taking In of the Zephyrs," which fairly accurately represents the way in which Egyptians celebrate the holiday.
The modern Sham El-Nessim is celebrated by both Christians and Muslims, so it is considered a national festival, rather than a religious one. The main features of the festival are:
- People spend all day out picnicking in any space of green, public gardens, on the Nile, or at the zoo.
- Traditional food eaten on this day consists mainly of Fesikh (a fermented, salted and dried Grey Mullet), lettuce, scallions or green onions, tirmis or Lupini Beans, and colored boiled eggs.
At Red Sea Diving Safari we receive many Egyptian guests coming down to the Deep South of the Red Sea mainly from the big cities Cairo and Alexandria for this holiday. Especially during the last years more and more young Egyptians have discovered the beauty of the southern Red Sea region as an alternative to the standard Egyptian all-inclusive resort holiday as well as diving. They enjoy the remoteness of our villages and the friendly service of our staff.
