Hennaed Dancing Girls, 18th - 19th century Egypt (one for bellydance enthusiasts on the forum) (Long, but worthwhile)

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: This is excerpted from: : "An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, : written in Egypt During the Years 1833, -34, and -35, Partly from : Notes Made During a Former Visit to that Country in the Years 1825, : -26, -27, and -28" By Edward William Lane, published by John Murray, : Albermarle Streety, London, 1871 (Same book as provided the : descriptions of hennaed drag queens a few posts down) : "Egypt has long been celebrated for its public dancing girls; the most : famous of whom are of a distinct tribe, called "Ghawazee;" but the : plural Ghawazee is generally understood as applying to the females. : The misapplication of the appllation "Al'mehs" to the common dancing : girls of this country has already been noticed. The Ghawazee perform, : unveiled, in the public streets, even to amuse the rabble. Their : dancing has little of elegance; its cheif peculiarity being a very : rapid vibrating motion of the hips, from side to side. The commence : with a degree of decorum; but soon, by more animated looks, by a more : rapid collision of thei castanets of brass, and by increased energy in : every motion, they exhibit a spectacle exactly agreeing with the : descriptions which Martial and Juvenal have given of the performances : of the female dancers of Gades. [ Lib. v. Epigr.79, Sat. xi. v. 162] : The dress in which they generally this exhibit in public is similar to : that which is worn by women of the middle classes in Egypt in private; : that is, in the hareem; consisting of a yelek, or an 'anteree and the : shintiyan, &c., of handsome materials. They also wear various : ornaments: their eyes are bordered witht eh kolh (or black collyrium); : and the tips of their fingers, the palms of their hands, and their : toes andother parts of their feet, are usually stained withthe red dye : of the henna, according to the general customof the middle and higher : classes of Egyptian women. In general, they are accompanied by : musicians (mostly of the same tribe), whose instruments are the : hemengeh or the rabab with the tar; or the darabukkeh with the : zummarah or the zemr: the tar is usually in the hands of an old woman. : : "The Gahawazee often perform in the court of a house or in the street, : before the door, and on certain occasions of festivity in the hareem; : as , for instance , on the occasion of a marriage, or the birth of a : chile. They are never admitted into a respectable hareem, but are not : infrequently hired to entertain a part of men in the house of some : rake. In this case, as might be expected, their performances are yet : more lascivious thatn those which I have already mentioned. Some of : them, when they exhibit before a private party of men, wear nothing : but the shintiyan (or trowsers) and a tob (or very full, long, : wide-sleeved shirt or gown) of semitransparent, coloured gauze, open : nearly halfway down the fromt. To extinguish the least spark of : modesty which they may yet sometimes affect to retain, they are : plentifully supplied with brandy or some other intoxicating liquor. : The scenes which ensue cannot be described. : : "I need scarcely add that these women are the most abandoned : courtesans of Egypt. Many of them are extremely handsome; and most of : them are richly dressed. : "Upon the whole, I think they are the finest women in Egypt. Many of : them have slightly aquiline noses, but in most respects they resemble : the rest of the females of this country. Women, as well as men, take : delight in witnessing their performances; but many persons among the : higher classes, and the more religious, disapprove of them. : "The Ghawazee being distinguished, in general, by a cast of : countenance differing, thougj slightly, from the rest of the : Egyptians, we can hardly doubt that they are, as themselves assert, a : distinct race. Their origin, however is involved in much : uncertainty. They call themselves "Baramikeh," or "Baramekees;" and : boast that they are dexcended from the famous family of that name who : were tje pbjects of favour , and afterwares of the capricious tyranny, : of Haroon Er-Rasheed, and of whom we read in several of the lates of : "THe Thousand and One Nights;" but, as a friend of mine lately : observed tome, the probably nave no more right to call themselves : "Baramikeh" than because they resemble that family in liberality, : though it is liberality of a different kind. In many of the tombs of : the ancient Egyptians we find representations of females dancing at : private entertainments, tot ehs sounds of various instruments, in a : manner similar to the modern Ghawazee, but even more licentious; one : or more of these performers being generally depicted in a state of : perfect nudity, though in the presence of men and women of high : stations. This mode of dancing we find, from the monuments here : alluded to, most of which bear the names of kings, which prove their : age, to have been common in Egypt in very remote imres; even before : the Exodus of the Israelites. It is probable, therefore that it has : continued without interuption; and perhaps the modern Ghawazee are : descended from the class of female dancers who amuse the Egyptians in : the times of the early Pharaohs. From the siilarity of the Spanish : fandango to the dances of the Ghawazee, we might infer that it was : introduced into Spain by the Arab conquerors of that country; were we : not informed that the Gaditanae, or females of Gades (now called : Cadiz) were famous for such performances in the times of the early : Roman Emperors. However, though it hence appears that the licentious : mode of dancing here describes has so long been practiced in Spain, it : is not improbable that it was originally introdyced into Gades from : the East, perhaps by the p[hoenicians. [ From the effect which it : priduced, it is probable that the dance performed by the daughter of : Herodias was the kind here described. See St. Matther, xiv, 6,7 or St. : Mark, vi. 22, 23.] : "The Ghawazee mostly keep themselves distinct from other classes, : abstaining from marriages with any but persons of their own tribe; but : sometimes a Ghazeeyeh makes a vow of repentance, and marries a : respectable Arab; who is not generally donsidered disgraced by such a : connection. All of them are brought up for the venal profession; but : not all as dancers; and most of them marry; thogu they never do this : until they have commenced their career of venality. The husband is : subject the wife,: he performs for her the offices of a servant and : procurer; and generally, if she be a dancer, he is also her musician; : but a few of the men earn their subsistance as blacksmiths or tinkers. : Most of the Ghazeeyehs welcome the lowest peasant if he can pay even : a very trifling sum. Though some of them are posessed of considerable : wealth, costly ornaments &c." : Author's footnote: : "Since this was written, a public female dancing and prostitution ahve : been prohibited by the government, and in the beginning of June, in : the year 1834. Women detected infringing this new law are to be : punished with fifty stripes for the first offence, and for repeated : offences are also condemned to hard labout for one or more years: men : are obnoxious to the discipline of the bastinado when parties in such : offences. But there is a simple plan for eveding punishment in cases : of this kind, which, it is said, will be adopted by many persons. A : man may marry a venal female, legally, and divorce her the next day. : He has only to say two or three words and pay a small sum of money : which he calls her dowry. He asks," Will you marry me" She answers, : "Yes." "For how much?" he asks. She names the sum; and he gives it: : she is then his lawful wife. The next day, he tells her that she is : divorced from him,. He need be under little apprehension of her : demanding the expenses of her maintenance of her 'eddeh, before the : expiration of which she cannot legally marry another man; for the : marriage which has just been contracted and dissolved is only designed : as a means of avoiding punishment in case of her being detected witht : the man; and otherwise is kept secret; and the sum which she can : demand for her maitenance during the above-mentioned period is very : paltry in comparison with that which she may obtain by taking a new : husband every two or three days. " : Catherine's footnote.....and there are still some people that think : reading is boring!

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