thephotosocietyのインスタグラム(thephotosociety) - 3月1日 05時30分

Photo by @rezaphotography #Egypt // Dancing in the city of the Dead

As the sun makes its slow arc over Cairo, the level of noise grows louder. Every single neighborhood is crowded with people, some loitering or moving with relaxed nonchalance, others frantically hurrying. The city is packed so densely that squatters have taken over the cemeteries on the city’s eastern edge.
In the City of the Dead, they have erected homes and shops among the tombs, amid the indifferent silence of the deceased. Although they are asserting the rights of the living, they show consideration for the tombs, living in respectful cohabitation with the dead. By nightfall, the city becomes fully alive, particularly during the mulids, the merry and noisy celebrations in honor of a saint.

While walking at night, I make out the sound of some drums. The percussive instruments are marking a regular and frantic rhythm. Somewhere in the maze of dark alleys, some Sufis must be playing. I can hear their voices now, low and bursting forth from the depths of their bodies and souls. There they are, wearing their long, white tunics, which stand out against the red decorations for the mulid. Their heads move in harmony with the music. Their faces are covered with sweat. Their eyes close. They go into a trance. From the whirling dervishes in Turkey to the ritual dancers in Africa, worshippers often enter into a state of rapture to commune with God. As they dance, the men chant, reciting poems by the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi. In the early morning, as the Cairo muezzins call the faithful to prayer, the dervishes strike their drums one last time. The men turn inward, exhausted after the divine drunkenness of the long hours of the night.

Text by
​@​​rachel​d​eghati

Published in “Derrière l’objectif” (Hoëbeke Publishing, 2010) and “Destins Croisés” (Hors Collection Publishing in 2002). #cairo #egyptian #celebration #mulid #sufi #sufism #men #spirituality #white #tunic #harmony #music #dance #trance #worshippers #rapture #god #religion #poetry #photooftheday #photojournalism #reza #rezaphoto #rezadeghati #rezaphotography #rezaphotojournalist #webistan #رضادقتى# عكاس

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