On 25/09/2012 18:25, Noah Gardiner wrote:

I think it is a fantastic insight that the Egyptian folk stories (ie Tale of Two Brothers, Khemwaset  etc) are ways of discussing sexual mysticism -
indeed they are often very explicit - as when a grave robber thinks he is getting his way with the lovely
Tabubue and wakes up naked in the street with his penis in a clay pot!

I will check out the full article in the library as the authors are being coy -
the festival of local sufi saint and his wife at Luxor, is said by some researchers to  be an archeological memory
of the festival of Opet (Amun & Mut).


Older versions of the festival had a symbolic sexual component (now suppressed) -
although I'm currently reading Mahfouz's "Cairo Trilogy" - which covers the period from 1918 - independence. It
is full of "cigarettes, and whiskey and wild wild women" -
also much Islamic and Koranic folklore - of which the author was an expert -
do you have any thoughts on this view of Egyptian society?


mogg