Egypt : The People :: essays research papers

Egypt The People approximately 32,500,000 people live in Egypt. Peasant upraiseers c besidesedfellahin make up all over 60 percent of the population. But less than 4 percent ofEgypts the three estates is suitable for farming. Before the leaders of the 1952 revolutionintroduced land reform, less than 2 percent of the landowners owned half of theland available for farming. about of the fellahin were tenants or owned verytiny farms. A man who owned 3 to 5 acres was considered well-off. Now no oneis permitted to own more(prenominal) than 50 acres, and the average Egyptian farm isgenerally much littler than that.An Egyptian farmers main tools argon the hoe, a simple plow, and thesakia, or waterwheel. The fellah, his wife, and their children all worktogether in the fields. The dreary routine of their lives is relieved only on afew do-the group prayer in the mosques on Fridays, religious feasts, andfamily events such as weddings or the circumcisions of young boys.A farmers to the highest degree valuable possession is the water buffalo, cow, or oxthat helps him with the heavy farm work. The water buffalo or ox draws the plow,turns the waterwheel, and pulls the nowraj. The nowraj is a wooden computer programmemounted on four or five iron disks. The sharpen edges of the disks crush thestalks of wheat so that the grain move be disordered from the chaff. The waterbuffalo or cow also supplies the fellahs family with milk and with calves thatcan be sold. Very often the fellah shares his house with his animals. This isunsanitary, but it is the farmers preferred guidance of protecting them. The theftof an animal could mean economic catastrophe for the unworthy fellah.The fellah wears a loose, long cotton wool robe called a gallabiyea, loosecotton pants, and a wool cap, which he makes himself. For special events hemakes a pillbox by folding a white sash around the cap. Flat, yellow-bellied slipperscomplete the fellahs outfit.The fellah, the wife of the fellah, w ears dresses with long sleeves andtrailing flounces and a black veil, which she sometimes uses to cover her face.On market days and other special occasions the women wear earrings, necklaces,bracelets, and anklets. These ornaments are usually made of beads, silver,glass, copper, or gold. They make a pleasant musical sound as the fellah walksalong the dusty lanes of the village.Most of Egypts fellahin live in the villages along the Nile. Thevillages invariably look gray because the houses are whitewashed only forimportant events suck as weddings.