A view of Luxor
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Moulid of Abu el-Haggag
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When:
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Aug 2007 (annual)
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Where:
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Luxor
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Held every year, two weeks prior to the beginning of Ramadan, the Moulid of Abu el-Haggag celebrates Luxor's patron sheikh with a two-day street festival.
Horse races, music, dance and tahtib, stick fights to the music of drums, are all part of the entertainment, though the highlight of the festival is the parading of large boats in the city's crowded streets. The parade resemble the solar barque processions of the Pharaonic era and in Islamic symbolism boats represent the quest for spiritual enlightenment.
Yussef Abu el-Haggag, the sheikh himself, was born in Damascus, then moved to Mecca and eventually settled in Luxor, where he founded a zawiyah (spiritual retreat).
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