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Egypt National Day with Lina Nafie
National Day Alumni Series

23 July 2023 Alumni Network
Published by Liza Shliakhova
Viewed 38 times

Anyone that knew Lina NAFIE when she was at Uni.lu knows that she is full of life and loves to party. With Egypt’s National Day coming exactly one month after Luxembourg, we caught up with Lina, who is Egyptian, for our second Alumni National Day feature. She is now an Event Producer in Australia and shares her favourite memories of national day celebrations in her home country.

When is the national day of Egypt?

 

Our national day is on 23 July. It celebrates Revolution Day when Egypt officially transitioned from being a Kingdom to a Republic.

 

How is it celebrated?

 

Many people will find it surprising that, unlike a lot of European countries, we do not have big fireworks on this day. People party a lot on the streets because Egyptians are naturally festive and like to party, it is a culture where weddings are very big so people are used to having a good time in large groups. Wealthier people would leave the city and go celebrate by the beach for the weekend having barbecues with their relatives or friends. Those who cannot really afford to travel would usually stay in the city and still do something nice (go to a tea shop, for example). On that day, people all try to go where the food is and just eat as much as they can so there are usually crowds on the streets, people party together, there is a lot of music…but no fireworks or anything like that.

 

Is there a typical food or drink you would have on a national day?

 

Food is a big part of the celebration. People gather friends and family and try to eat as much as they can. We eat a lot of traditional Egyptian sweets and pastries that we also have during Ramadan, one of them is called basbousa. It is made of seeds with a lot of honey, oil and cream. They are really good but also very sweet!

Do you think it is important to celebrate national day?


I do think it is important, especially for our country because Egyptian history is long and rich. National Day symbolises a huge change for Egypt: the transition from monarchy to the First Republic. While it is great to remember how Egypt became what it is today, it is also important to celebrate what Egypt was in the past as well, and this day is kind of there to acknowledge both things. Also, it gives a day off to people because a lot of Egyptians are extremely hard working and they cannot always afford to take a day off so I do really appreciate that people can get a day to just chill, party and celebrate all together.

 

What are your personal memories from these celebrations?

 

I remember that when 23 July would fall either on Thursday or on Sunday (because the weekend in Egypt is Friday and Saturday) we would have a long weekend and the special part would be that both my parents would have a day off. We would be able to go away for the weekend to the beach house, invite friends and have a big family reunion, which was unique because we would only have many of those once or twice a year. We would all gather together, bring lots of food, have a big barbecue, go to the beach and swim together… Everyone would always be nicely dressed in very specific fancy clothes that you would wear for this occasion. I did enjoy it a lot because I have a really big family, and it is always hard to catch up with everyone so as a little girl, I really did enjoy having this day when my two parents would be home. It would just be all of us together having fun.




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