Sham Ennessim

The exact origin of the festival remains insufficiently documented; however, it is generally held that Sham Ennessim traces back to ancient Egypt.Celebrations of the Feast of Shamm Al-Nassim in Egypt: The Past and the Present], Annals of Ain Shams Literature 42, 323-350, 2014 [French]| Concerning the origin of this festival, precise documentation remains insufficient. The name Shamm al-Nassim probably derives from the term Smw(4) shemou, which is the name of the season It has been proposed that the modern name is derived from the harvest season, Šmw (Shemu), and that the festival itself is a continuation of early forms of springtime festivities dating back over 4,500 years.

The arrival of spring was considered a time of profound importance for the ancient Egyptians, as it signaled the beginning of the agricultural cycle, an essential phase for sowing, cultivation, and eventual harvest.{{cite web |last=Osman |first=Nadda |title=Sham el-Nessim: A guide to the Egyptian spring festival |url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/what-sham-el-nessim-egypt-spring-festival-explained |website=Middle East Eye |date=21 April 2025 |access-date=12 May 2025}} The seasonal shift held deep symbolic and practical significance in the rhythms of Egyptian life.

Throughout medieval Egypt, Sham Ennessim remained widely observed, persisting across successive regimes including the Fatimids, Ayyubids, and Mamluks.{{cite news |last=غنيم |first=محمد |date=17 April 2023 |title=أسرار القاهرة.. أثر الفراعنة لا يزول فى عيد شم النسيم.. الفاطميون والمماليك حافظوا على الطقوس.. الأكلات المقدسة عند المصريين دليل الفرحة.. وثورة 1952 فتحت حدائق القصور الملكية للشعب.. صور |url=https://www.youm7.com/amp/2023/4/17/أسرار-القاهرة-أثر-الفراعنة-لا-يزول-فى-عيد-شم-النسيم/6152676 |publisher=Youm7 |language=ar |access-date=13 May 2025}} The festival retained a largely non-religious character, maintained instead through its integration into local custom and seasonal rhythms. Its position in the calendar reflects the continuity of earlier seasonal rites that predate both Christianity and Islam in Egypt. Participation extended across religious lines, with Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Egypt marking the day through shared customs.

The Fatimids in particular paid special attention to Sham Ennessim, allowing it to flourish as a public festival while incorporating aspects of it into official state ceremonial life. Although the celebration was rooted in pre-Islamic traditions, the Fatimid regime did not suppress its observance. Instead, it permitted the continuation of established customs and at times adopted a participatory role in their public expression.

Notably, the Fatimid state organized formal celebrations of Sham Ennessim. These included an official procession led by the caliph and accompanied by high-ranking state officials. The event was coordinated by the court preacher, assisted by a cadre of appointed captains, and proceeded through the streets of Cairo as part of a large public spectacle.

Foods such as fesikh, green onions, lettuce, eggs and malana (chickpeas) remained central to the celebration. A tradition persisted during medieval Egypt of writing wishes on eggshells and hanging them from trees, a practice likely derived from earlier symbolic uses of the egg in ritual contexts. It was believed that as the sun rose and its rays touched the eggs, the wishes written upon them would manifest. Women would also make necklaces of lotus flowers to give to their husbands.

The day was typically spent outdoors, with families visiting gardens, riverbanks, and public green spaces. In Cairo, gatherings occurred along the Nile, near the Khalij canal, and in the open areas of Fustat. Public spaces often hosted vendors selling seasonal foods and offering basic entertainment. In rural areas, agricultural communities observed the day with meals and informal celebrations tied to the agricultural cycle.

The food consumed during Sham Ennessim had long held symbolic meanings in ancient Egypt, such as lettuce, which was considered a symbol of fertility, and was associated with Min. Depictions of his harvest festival show his followers carrying lettuce.{{cite news |last=Smith |first=K. Annabelle |date=16 July 2013 |title=When Lettuce Was a Sacred Sex Symbol |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/when-lettuce-was-a-sacred-sex-symbol-12271795/#:~:text=For%20nearly%203%2C000%20years%20lettuce,its%20resemblance%20to%20the%20phallus&text=The%20Ptolemaic%20king%20stands%20before,him%20the%20eye%20of%20Horus |access-date=13 May 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Magazine}} Pliny, the Roman historian, wrote that onions were venerated as deities in ancient Egypt.{{cite book |title=Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery, 1984 & 1985: Cookery: Science, Lore & Books: Proceedings |publisher=Oxford Symposium |year=1986 |editor=Tom Jaine |page=140}} The agricultural cycle of onions influenced certain aspects of ancient Egyptian liturgy.{{cite journal |last=Rosso |first=A. M. |year=2019 |title=Antidotes and Counter-Poisons in the Ancient World |journal=Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt |volume=55 |pages=173–187}} Onions were also used in the embalming of the dead,{{Cite book |last=Gahlin |first=Lucia |title=Gods & Myths of Ancient Egypt |publisher=Southwater |year=2014 |isbn=9781780193328 |pages=46}} and have been found within certain body cavities of mummies.{{cite journal |last=Warid |first=W. A. |year=1994 |title=Vegetable Species Known to the Ancient Egyptians |journal=Horticulture in Human Life, Culture and Environment |volume=391 |pages=283–290}} During festivals, followers of Sokar wore strings of onions around their necks as part of ritual observances. Eggs also held symbolic importance in ancient Egypt, representing the belief that the universe was created from a cosmic egg.

The Coptic calculation of Easter uses the Aqbati method, invented by Pope Demetrius (189-231 AD) to ensure it would always be on the same date as Easter celebrated by other Christian groups, due to an early Byzantine decree.

At one point, Muslims in Giza celebrated the mawlid of Abu Huraira on the same date as Sham Ennissim.

The Islamic calendar being lunar and thus unfixed relative to the solar year, the date of Sham Ennessim remained on the Christian-linked date.

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The festival was historically a religious occasion during which early Egyptians made offerings of salted fish, lettuce, eggs, and onion to their deities, including Ra, Amun, Atum, and Ptah. These foods held symbolic meanings tied to fertility, renewal, and the hopefulness of spring.

Although the modern celebration no longer involves religious offerings, Egyptians continue the tradition of eating the same symbolic foods. A notable custom involves dyeing eggs in various colors, a practice believed to have originated with the ancient Egyptians. The strong-smelling fish, fesikh, in particular, has become an iconic, if controversial, element of the celebration.{{cite journal |last=Omar |first=Hebatalla |title=Folk beliefs in modern Egypt—Sham El-Nessim (Spring Festival) in Hesset-Melig Village as an example |journal=World Wide Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development|volume=8 |issue=02 |pages=27–31 |year=2022 |doi=10.17605/OSF.IO/Y2EDK}}

The customs of Sham Ennessim are consistent throughout Egypt, though they tend to be preserved with greater fidelity in rural communities. A defining feature of the festival is the communal outing; Egyptians traditionally spend the day outdoors, picnicking in green spaces, public parks, along the banks of the Nile, or in local zoos. The outdoor gathering is central to the festival’s identity, symbolizing renewal and connection with nature.

While many of these customs persist in Egypt’s cities, ethnographic research in villages like Hesset-Melig has shown that rural areas maintain a more vivid and community-oriented expression of the festival. The blending of Islamic, Christian, and ancient Egyptian traditions is especially visible in these locales, where the communal spirit and ritualistic aspects of Sham Ennessim remain intact.

The Christian Egyptians have played a major role in preserving the festival through their cultural agency,{{Cite book|last1=Falola|first1=Toyin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YjoVCwAAQBAJ&q=%E2%80%9Ccultural+agency+of+the+copts%E2%80%9D&pg=PA393|title=Africa: An Encyclopedia of Culture and Society [3 volumes]: An Encyclopedia of Culture and Society|last2=Jean-Jacques|first2=Daniel|date=2015-12-14|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-666-9|language=en}} which was quite limited after the conversion to Islam in Egypt,{{cn|date=May 2025}} but that cannot be taken to be the reason why the Muslim Egyptians collectively celebrate the festival.

Fish and eggs are both symbols of resurrection for Christians, influencing their use in festivities.

Some scholars argue that the collective observance of the festival by Muslim Egyptians suggests its retention within Muslim communities themselves after their conversion to Islam, rather than merely being adopted from Coptic practices. This view is supported by the writings of E. W. Lane and by the continuity of shared celebratory customs.

In his work, Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, E. W. Lane provides an early account of the festival’s observance:

"A custom termed 'Shemm en-Neseem' [sic.] (or the Smelling of the Zephyr) is observed on the first day of the Khamaseen. Early in the morning of this day, many persons, especially women, break an onion, and smell it; and in the course of the forenoon, many of the citizens of Cairo ride or walk a little way into the country, or go in boats, generally northwards, to take the air, or, as they term it, smell the air, which, on that day, they believe to have a wonderfully beneficial effect. The greater number dine in the country, or on the river. This year (1834), they were treated with a violent hot wind, accompanied by clouds of dust, instead of the neseem; but considerable numbers, notwithstanding, went out to 'smell' it."

Lane’s account appears to indicate that, historically, Muslim Egyptians may have determined the festival's timing independently of the Christian calendar, associating it instead with the first day of the Khamaseen season, a period of hot, dry winds. In the same volume, however, Lane notes: "they [the Muslims of Egypt] calculate the period of the 'Khamaseen,' when hot southerly winds are of frequent occurrence, to commence on the day immediately following the Coptic festival of Easter Sunday."

This statement seems to imply that, by the 19th century, the timing of the Khamaseen, at least popularly, had come to be reckoned in relation to the Coptic Easter. Nevertheless, this association raises chronological inconsistencies, as the Khamaseen season typically begins in late March,[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222814007_Characterization_of_the_Khamaseen_Spring_Dust_in_Jordan Characterization of the Khamaseen in Jordan] by Abdulkader M. Abed, Mustafa M. Al Kuisi, and Hani Abul KhairTraditional Residential Architecture in Cairo from a Green Architecture Perspective by Nermine Abdel Gelil Mohamed and Waleed Hussein Ali whereas Coptic Easter varies significantly and often falls well into April or even May. In the year 1834, for example, Coptic Easter occurred on May 5th,{{Cite web |title=When is Orthodox Easter in 1815? |url=https://truecalendar.com/orthodox-easter-dates/1815 |access-date=2025-05-12}} which does not align with the conventional beginning of the Khamaseen.

Lane also provides a list of Christian religious festivals observed by Coptic Christians following each fast, but Sham Ennesim is notably absent from this list, whereas Easter is explicitly mentioned. Sham Ennesim, instead, is described as a festival observed by Egyptians in general, without any explicit religious association.

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