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Ghawazi Epilogue part 2

by Edwina
posted October, 2011

NEEDS AND INTRO

In the course of "The Mystery of the Ghawazi" many works have been quoted but even more omitted for lack of space, irrelevance to the specific points under discussion, lack of clarity, or simply because they were discovered too late for inclusion at the appropriate spot in the series. However, as much of this material is difficult to find and will be of interest to those omnivorous spirits who have felt compelled to read every word of the series, and as, taken as a whole, it may shed further light on the Ghawazi, the better part of this material is herewith set forth in chronological order.

The first mention of the Ghawazi by name of which I am aware is the lengthly description in an 1830 publication by the orientalist and Arabian traveller John Lewis Burckhardt, the data for which was collected around 1817. Burckhardt's description of the Ghawazi bears a striking resemblance to that of Edward Lane published a few years later, which in turn formed the basis for many subsequent descriptions:

"In every town, indeed it may be said in almost every large village, of Egypt, individuals are found belonging to a tribe of prostitutes called Ghazye (or in the plural Ghowazy). They are a race distinct from all other public women, and relate with pride that their origin is Arabian, and that they are of the true Bedouin blood. Among themselves they assume the name of Barameke or Barmeky, by which, however, they arc less generally known than by that of Ghowazy. They boast that their origin is derived from the celebrated Barmeky (or Barmecide) family, the viziers of Haroun er' Rasheed; but in what manner any descent can be traced to them, why they emigrated to Egypt, and how they chose to adopt their vile profession, not one of them knows. They usually marry among themselves, at least the males never marry any girl but a Barmeky; and few of the Barmeky females condescend to take a husband of any other tribe. All their females, without exception, are educated for the purpose of prostitution. Their law is, that a girl, as soon as she is marriageable, must yield to the embraces of a stranger, and soon after be married to a young man of her own tribe. Thus the husband is never permitted to receive his bride in a state of virgin purity; but the Ghowazi father sells the first favours of his daughter to a stranger, making a bargain with the highest bidder, generally in presence of the sheikh of the village, or chief of the town, in which the parties reside. These women, and all the females of this tribe may, immediately after the nuptial ceremony, receive the visits of any man who presents himself, while the husband performs the duties of a menial servant in the family; he is also the musician who plays when his wife dances in public, and is consequently employed in seeking for persons who may be induced to visit his wife, with whom he himself cohabits only by stealth: for a Ghazye would think herself disgraced, or at least would be exposed to the sneers of the sisterhood, if it were known that she admitted her  husband to any familiarity or participation in the enjoyment of her charms. Among them, I have reason to believe (but I am not certain) that the Ghazy (so the male is called) has but one wife. The men never follow any profession; they are neither cultivators, nor traders, nor artists; the dealing in asses, of which they rear an excellent breed, being the only branch of industry to which they apply themselves, besides the sale of their partners' charms. They are as much despised as their females are distinguished and often honoured; the birth of a male child is considered by a Ghazye as a great misfortune, because he is an unprofitable article - a mere incumbrance - and the whole male sex look up to the females for food, clothes, and protection. The Ghowazys have in every town or considerable village a small quarter assigned to them, where they live in large huts or tents, seldom in houses; never associating with other public women, whom they regard as much inferior to themselves in rank. They are generally, but not always, 'dancers and singers, and as such many travellers have seen and admired them.

Like true Bedouins they arc constantly moving about, either paying visits to the sisterhood established in neighbouring places, attending the country fairs, or the camps of the troops. They have made it a law among them, never to refuse the embraces of any person, whatever may be his condition, so that he pays: at country fairs, therefore, the most fashionable Ghazye, glittering with gold, will admit the visit of any clown or fellah for a sum not exceeding twopence. Some of them have accumulated considerable wealth and keep great establishments. Half-a-dozen black female slaves, (the profits of whose prostitution they claim as their own property,) two or three dromedaries, as many horses, half-a-dozen asses, are not unfrequently seen in one family, while the dress and ornaments of those females, consisting in gold-embroidered silk gowns, and many chains of sequins that hang about the head, neck, and breast, with heavy golden bracelets, are sometimes worth from two to three hundred pounds sterling. In

features they may be distinguished from the common Egyptians, and appear to bear traces of Arabian origin, especially in their fine aquiline noses. Their beauty is famous throughout Egypt; the greater number, however, cannot be reckoned handsome, yet I have seen some that might have served as models of Phryne for a painter; their skin not being browner than that of the inhabitants of southern Europe. Instances are not uncommon of a Ghazye marrying a village sheikh, especially of the Howara Arabs settled in Upper Egypt, who consider it an honour to carry off so fair a prize, nor would the Ghazye bestow herself in matrimony on any common peasant. But these instances only occur when the Ghazye has lost her husband, or divorced him, and has become tired of her mode of life, in the outset of which she can never be induced to renounce her hereditary profession. When such an event is to take place, the Ghazye, before she marries the sheikh, makes a solemn vow upon the tomb of some saint never to be unfaithful to her new husband, and sacrifices a sheep in honour of that patron. I have been assured on good authority that no Ghazye married under these circumstances was ever known to violate her vow. The number in Egypt is very considerable; I believe that they may be fairly estimated, males and females, at from six to eight thousand persons. Their principal settlements are in the towns of the Delta, and in Upper Egypt at Kenne, where they have a colony of at least three hundred individuals. On the great festival of the Saint el Bedowy, at Tanta in the Delta, (which is celebrated three times every year,) an hundred thousand persons sometimes crowd together from all parts of Egypt, to perform a pilgrimage resembling in many respects that of Mekka, which swallows up the savings collected by the poorer classes of Cairo. At one of those festivals I have seen above six hundred Ghazye assembled in tents pitched about the town. Some of the most wealthy Ghazye perform the pilgrimage to Mekka themselves in great state, and assume ever after the honourable title of Hadjy, not changing however their mode of life. The Ghowazys are protected by the government of Egypt, to which they pay an annual capitation tax. In the time of the Mamelouks their influence in the open country was very considerable, and the protection of a Ghazye was courted by many respectable persons. The Arnaut soldiers, who are at present masters of Egypt, have plundered several and killed others in fits of jealousy, so that many have fled from the garrison towns into the open country. They have a custom in Upper Egypt, on the feast-day after Ramadhan, of paying visits to all the first people of the town or village, when they dance for a few minutes in the court-yard of the house and receive a present at parting. Their behaviour towards those who do not meddle with them is much less indecent than might be imagined; but woe to him whose affections they captivate! At every place where they are numerous one of them is regarded as head of their community, and assumes the title of 'Emeer el Nezel' or 'chief of the settlement;' which, however, does not invest her with any authority over the others. At Cairo itself their number is but small; they live all together in a large khan, called Hosh Bardak, just below the castle. In a city where among women of every rank chastity is so scarce as at Cairo, it could not be expected that public prostitution should thrive.

"The Ghowazys have established among themselves a vocabulary of the most common nouns and phrases, in which they are able to converse without being understood by those who visit them.

"There is another tribe of public women in Egypt called Halebye ['of Aleppo'], they are fewer in numbers than the Ghowazys, but like them intermarry among themselves. The men are tinkers, and horse or ass doctors; the women for the greater part, but I believe not all, common prostitutes. They wander over the country much like Gypsies. Of the latter, which are called here Ghadjar (in Syria Korbat), very few families are found in Egypt; they are more numerous in Syria."

Burckhardt, J .L., Arabic Proverbs; or the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians. London, 1830, pp. 173-179.

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