Ready, Set, Sniff

Orthodox churches calculate the date of Easter differently than Western churches. Usually the difference is only a week or so, but some years it’s nearly a month. This year, Orthodox Easter falls this coming Sunday.

Most Egyptians are Muslims, but all Egyptians, regardless of faith, observe a spring festival on the Monday after Orthodox Easter. (Technically, the Coptic Christians of Egypt are Monophysites, not Orthodox, but they follow the same date for Easter.) The festival is known as Shamm el-Nasim, or “sniffing the breeze,” and it’s largely a celebration of loud aromas.

In Cairo, people get up at dawn and sniff a green onion crushed in vinegar. Then they put on their brightest clothes and go out to the countryside, or to parks or the banks of the Nile, for a picnic. The things they eat there include eggs, fruits, fesikh (a smelly dried fish) and, above all, onions and garlic.

Even aside from the picnic, garlic and onions play a big role in the holiday. One old Shamm el-Nasim custom is to place cut-up onions on the doorsill of your house to turn away illness and evil in the year to come. It’s also considered a good idea to hang a string of onions or garlic out your window.

Historians are puzzled by Shamm el-Nasim. It’s not specifically Christian, despite its link to Orthodox Easter, and they assume that it comes down from some ancient Pharaonic festival, but they have no idea which.

One thing’s for certain, though. On this holiday, you can be sure of smelling something when you sniff.