Valentines and Wedding Babes

The approach of Valentine’s Day here is first apparent when you walk down the street and every card and gift shop has over-sized red bears perched on the sidewalk, often accompanied by all sizes of smaller ones. Valentine balloon sellers pop up in street medians, and flower sellers are busy wrapping up bouquets of reddish orange and white gladiolas, red-tinged chrysanthemums, and red roses.

Since David had made breakfast and was spending time on a requested repair job, I decided to visit the flower seller down the street. For the usual 15 pound bouquet of three stems of gladiolus and a white chrysanthemum, he was now asking 25 pounds. I was surprised, but when I handed him two 20s, he grandly said, oh, 20 is enough!  This often happens to us it seems. If we don’t quite have enough change at the grocers, they say, “oh just take it”!  This “more or less” way of doing business is amusing to us. I hope we don’t get too used to it by the time we go back to the U.S. where this kind of grace is rare.

Another sight that always amuses us is what we call “the wedding babes” that line the streets around a wedding reception hall. Each huge bear-like balloon apparently represents the good wishes of some friend or family for the couple about to be married. The more the balloons, the more money has been spent on good wishes. We've been told that this custom only exists in Port Said, and not in Cairo. They do take up a good bit of space around a building.  Some of our students think it’s a big waste of money, and apparently is a practice that has been strongly discouraged by the local Coptic bishop who says you might as well open your hand and offer money to the wind! 

Another sure sign of an approaching wedding is when the ladders come out and strings of tiny blue lights hang from wires stretched across the street. Then when we hear loud ululations erupting, we know the bride and groom are about to make an appearance. Since our windows look out over the entrance to the cathedral, we have witnessed quite a few wedding procedures. It seems there are weddings in the cathedral at least twice a week, and in other city venues nearby, almost every night. After the nuptials, shots and fire-crackers explode into the night. This is no quiet affair, generally speaking! Weddings seem to be one of the main businesses in the town.