The Sheikh and the Saint

An odd little aside here from yet another article about Egypt's controversial ban on mulids, the public celebrations of saints' days, due to swine flu, which I previously blogged about here: the issue is apparently continuing, and this English language report from Al-Masry al-Youm updates the story and, in passing remarks:

Today the people of the Mit Damsees village in Daqahleya begin celebrating moulid of Sheikh Mohamed Abu Bakr el-Seddik and Mar Girgis (Saint George) for five days, after the governor reduced the number of days from eight. The governor is imposing rules, he says, can possibly prevent the spread of H1N1 virus and bird flu, such as banning pork and live birds. Doctors will be available during the celebration.

Did you catch it? Yes, the sheikh and Saint George seem to share a mulid. That's actually pretty common in parts of Egypt and North Africa where there are Christian and Muslim communities in the same town: sometimes they each celebrate a saint of their own on the date of the other community's mulid, or Muslims venerate the Christian saint and vice versa. Islamists and Christian hierarchs, of course, don't approve, but then, Islam and Christianity as practiced at the village level find their own ways of accommodating. Think of the Teutonic pagan Christmas trees and mistletoe (or Easter eggs) and you realize that syncretism is an old, old habit.