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Dear Parents, “Ahlan Wa Sahlan” a warm welcome to all new comers and welcome back to Egypt returning community members. DARDASHAH is a monthly column that provides you with information about particular events occurring in Egypt and about the different activities of the Egyptian Culture department at CAC. The events may be cultural, religious, or historical. The word “ dardashah“ means “chatting”--we chat together through this column. If you would like more information about the current topics, or others, please contact the writer. jabbas@cacegypt.org
The Egyptian Culture Department: The Egyptian Culture department at CAC creates challenging learning opportunities about Egypt for the students and the larger CAC community, to establish a model for understanding and appreciating a host country culture, and serving the community as a model to follow globally. The philosophy of the department is to enrich the students with the knowledge of the different aspects and phases of the Egyptian culture, and challenge them with new possibilities to serve the community. The curriculum is enhanced with rigorous projects, field trips, and hands-on activities continuously assessed to inspire the students, and enable them to understand and appreciate the Egyptian culture in a context of their own.
Hurrah to school: Kol Sanna Wentom Tayyebeen: Many Happy Returns One of the most interesting Arabic expressions used repeatedly in Egypt is “Kol Sanna Wentom Tayyebeen”. It literary means many happy returns or refers to new beginnings, such as the beginning of a new year and also to the beginning of a new school year. New beginnings are always exciting! Birth, Marriage, Graduation, a new house, a new friend, and a new country are all new beginnings. Schools are the luckiest institutions because they have new beginnings every year. Our excitement is therefore annually on going. The 2011-2012 school year started with two special occasions in August. Those are the fasting of Ramadan for Egyptian Muslims, and the Fasting of the Holly Virgin for the Orthodox Coptic Egyptians.
In the elementary Egyptian Culture classes the meaning and philosophy of fasting was explained to all the grade levels K-5. Students shared information about the different kinds of fasts they know. The students discussed the celebration of the month of Ramadan and the traditions associated with it.
For their first hands on experience, the elementary students prepared Qataif, a special Ramadan snack, and had a taste of the Egyptian Culture. Qataif was also prepared for all CAC faculty and staff and sent to the different divisions. Fifth grade continued their traditional Ramadan bags distribution to all the members of the general services department at CAC. This has been one of their community service projects for the past twenty years. In addition, the fifth annual elementary community potluck Iftar was held on Wednesday, August 17th. This event started after the suggestion of Mrs. Samia Wadman, as one of the many PTO/EC cultural activities. The evening was filled with a festive spirit and authentic Ramadan decorations.
Eid El Fitr Eid El Fitr is the feast that celebrates the end of the Holy Month of Ramadan. It is the most popular celebration in the Islamic Calendar. Celebrations start on the 29th of Ramadan when a delegation of religious leaders and government officials attend sighting the moon of the new month “Shawal”. The feast is celebrated for three days. Early, on the morning of the first day, congregational prayers are held in all the mosques of Egypt. People put on their best clothes for prayers, and give feast alms to the needy. After prayers families get together and children get new clothes as well as presents, sometimes they get a sum of money called “Eideya” and share boxes of Kahk. Kahk is a special kind of cookies with powdered sugar. It is prepared for the occasion of Eid El Fitr. Kahk, was also, shared by the Egyptian Culture department with all elementary students as well as the CAC community. In addition this year Mrs. Sherine El Banhawy (PTO member), together with the Egyptian Culture department (EC) planned a kahk workshop for the CAC community to attend a demonstration on making the Kahk and have a real hands on experience.
The kahk workshop was highly attended by all community members. Abeer, the assistant of the Egyptian Culture department made a demonstration of preparing kahk. All the participants practiced making their own kahk cookies, decorating them and covering them with powder sugar.
The event showed the diversity of our CAC community and the importance of creating different events to bring the entire community together. The Kahk making workshop was the first of the monthly cultural events of the PTO/EC activities. The events will take place on the third Tuesday of every month. Looking forward to a great school year that brings all our community members together to explore more of the many phases of the Egyptian Culture.
Jailan Abbas (PhD)
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