What Are Some Traditions in Egypt? Customs, Festivals and Etiquette for Visitors

Some of the best-known traditions in Egypt are offering tea to every guest, the Ramadan lanterns and charity tables, the Sham el-Nessim spring picnic, henna nights and street wedding processions, and the shared meals of the two Eids and Coptic Christmas. Most Egyptian customs come from three sources that overlap in daily life: the family, religion (Islam and Coptic Christianity) and a farming calendar that is thousands of years old.

Our guides are Egyptian and grew up with all of this, so this guide explains what you are likely to see on a trip, when it happens, what it means, and how to join in without causing offence. To see daily life up close, browse our guided Cairo day tours. The festival dates for 2027 are given where they are known; the Islamic dates move about 11 days earlier every year and are confirmed by moon sighting.

If one tradition sums up Egypt, it is the welcome. A guest is offered something to drink within minutes, even on a short visit and even in a shop: strong black tea with sugar, mint tea, Turkish-style coffee, or in summer a cold hibiscus (karkadeh) drink. Refusing twice is normal politeness; accepting the third offer is normal too.

• The polite invitation (ezouma): Egyptians invite you to eat with them even when they are only being polite. If the host insists more than once, the invitation is real.
• Food for guests: when you are invited to a home, the table is loaded far beyond what anyone can finish. Mahshi (stuffed vegetables), molokhia, rice and meat are classic guest dishes. Eat a little of everything and accept a second helping.
• Bring something: sweets from a good bakery, fruit or flowers. Do not arrive empty-handed for a meal.
• Your plate is never empty: leave a little food on the plate when you are full, or it will be refilled.

Read more about the drinks you will be offered in our guide to popular Egyptian drinks.

Family is the centre of Egyptian life. Several generations often live in the same building, adult children usually live with their parents until they marry, and Friday lunch with the extended family is a weekly fixture. An Egyptian proverb says that whoever has no elder should buy one: older relatives are consulted on marriages, jobs and money, and they are greeted first when you enter a room.

Egypt celebrates Mother's Day on 21 March every year, the first day of spring. Children of all ages bring gifts to their mothers, and schools and television programmes mark the day. For a visitor, the family focus shows in small ways: strangers ask if you are married and how many children you have, and parents with small children are helped onto buses and to the front of queues.

• Greetings: "As-salamu alaykum" (peace be upon you) is answered with "wa alaykum as-salam". "Ahlan" (welcome) and "Ahlan wa sahlan" are heard everywhere.
• Handshakes: men shake hands with men, often for a long time, and close friends kiss on both cheeks. Between men and women, wait for the other person to offer a hand; many religious Egyptians, men and women, prefer a hand on the heart instead.
• The right hand: eat, give and receive with the right hand.
• "Bismillah": many Egyptians say "in the name of God" before eating, driving off or starting any task, and "Alhamdulillah" (thanks be to God) after.
• "Insha'Allah": "God willing" is added to every plan for the future. It can mean yes, probably, or politely no.
• Time: social time is relaxed and arriving 20 or 30 minutes late to a friend's house is normal. Tours, trains and flights are not relaxed; be on time for those.
• The evil eye: many Egyptians, Muslim and Christian, believe that envy can bring bad luck. Blue beads, the hand of Fatima (khamsa) and the phrase "ma sha'Allah" when praising a baby or a new car protect against it. If you admire a child, add "ma sha'Allah".

During Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, Muslims fast from dawn to sunset. In 2027 Ramadan is expected to begin around 8 February, with Eid al-Fitr around 9 March. Ramadan in Egypt has its own customs that many Arab countries borrowed:

• The fanous: coloured lanterns hang over streets and balconies from the first day. Children used to carry them while singing "Wahawi ya wahawi".
• Iftar: the fast is broken at sunset with dates and a drink, then a big family meal. The first iftar of the month is usually held at the parents' house.
• Mawa'id al-Rahman: "tables of the Merciful", free iftar tables set up in the street by mosques, businesses and neighbours for anyone who is fasting or in need.
• The mesaharati: in older neighbourhoods a man with a drum still walks the streets before dawn calling people by name to wake up for suhoor, the last meal before the fast.
• Ramadan nights: cafes, mosques and old streets such as Al-Muizz and Al-Hussein stay busy until the early hours.

For visitors, sites and hotels stay open, but museum and office hours are shorter and traffic is very heavy just before sunset. Eating in the street during the day is legal for non-Muslims, but it is polite to do it discreetly. Our guide to visiting Egypt during Ramadan covers this in detail. For the late meal before the fast begins again, see our list of places to have suhoor in Cairo.

Eid al-Fitr

The three-day feast at the end of Ramadan starts with the Eid prayer in the morning, often in large open spaces. Families visit relatives, children get new clothes and "eidiya" (pocket money from adults), and every home has kahk, butter biscuits covered in powdered sugar, sometimes filled with dates or nuts. Baking kahk together in the last days of Ramadan is a tradition of its own.

Eid al-Adha

The feast of the sacrifice falls about 70 days after Eid al-Fitr, during the pilgrimage to Mecca; in 2027 it is expected around 16 May. Families who can afford it sacrifice a sheep or a cow and share the meat in three parts: for the household, for relatives and for the poor. The classic Eid meal is fatta, rice and bread layered with garlic and vinegar sauce and meat.

Egypt's Christians, most of them members of the Coptic Orthodox Church, keep traditions that go back to the first centuries of Christianity.

• Coptic Christmas, 7 January: it follows a 43-day fast without animal products. The midnight liturgy on 6 January is followed by a family meal with meat, the first after the fast. Christmas Day is a national public holiday for all Egyptians. See Christmas in Egypt.
• Epiphany (Eid al-Ghitas), 19 January: the baptism of Christ is marked by eating taro (qolqas) and sugarcane: taro is peeled and washed like a soul cleansed in baptism, and the cane grows straight and sweet.
• Palm Sunday: the week before Easter, children and adults weave palm fronds into crosses, crowns and small donkeys sold outside churches.
• Coptic Easter: after a 55-day fast; in 2027 it falls on 2 May. Our guide to Easter traditions in Egypt explains the week in full.
• Tattooed crosses: many Copts carry a small cross tattooed on the inside of the right wrist, often done at a monastery or a saint's festival.

Egypt's festivals connected with the Journey of the Holy Family, held at the churches and monasteries on the route, were added to the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage in 2022.

Sham el-Nessim ("smelling the breeze") is the Monday after Coptic Easter, so in 2027 it falls on 3 May. It is a national holiday for Muslims and Christians alike, and many Egyptians believe its roots lie in an ancient spring festival. Families leave home early for parks, the Nile banks, the zoo or the beach, and eat the traditional foods:

• Feseekh and ringa: salted fermented grey mullet and smoked herring. Feseekh has a strong taste and must come from a reliable shop; every year the health ministry warns about badly prepared fish.
• Coloured eggs: children dye and decorate boiled eggs.
• Green onions, lettuce and green chickpeas (malana).

If you are in Egypt that day, expect parks, gardens and Nile boats to be packed and plan your sightseeing early.

National days are also public holidays: Revolution Day on 25 January, Sinai Liberation Day on 25 April, Labour Day on 1 May, 30 June, Revolution Day on 23 July and Armed Forces Day on 6 October. Islamic dates depend on the moon and holidays are sometimes moved to a Thursday or Sunday, so check close to your trip. Our list of important holidays in Egypt explains how each one affects sightseeing.

Saints' festivals (mawlids) are a world of their own: the mawlid of Sayyida Zeinab and Al-Hussein in Cairo or Sayed al-Badawi in Tanta draw huge crowds with Sufi chanting, swings, sweets and stalls. They are fascinating but very crowded; go with a local.

Engagement and henna night

Marriage is still a family affair. The groom's family visits the bride's family to ask for her hand, and the two families agree on the shabka (the gold jewellery the groom gives the bride) and on the home. The night before the wedding, women gather for the henna night, when the bride's hands and feet are painted in patterns. Henna rituals of the Arab region were inscribed by UNESCO in 2024, with Egypt among the countries that nominated them.

The zaffa and the zaghrouta

The wedding starts with the zaffa, a procession of drummers, dancers and sometimes bagpipes leading the couple into the hall. Women greet the couple with the zaghrouta, a long high trill that means joy. In popular neighbourhoods and villages the party moves into the street, with lights, loudspeakers and the whole neighbourhood invited. If you are staying in a hotel on a Thursday night, you will very likely hear a zaffa in the lobby.

The sebou'

Seven days after a baby is born, the family holds the sebou'. The baby is laid in a sieve and gently shaken, the mother steps over the baby seven times, children carry candles and sing, and guests take home bags of sweets and nuts. Many Egyptians trace the custom back to ancient times.

Death is met with community support. Muslim burials take place quickly, usually the same day. Men receive condolences in a large tent (sewan) or a mosque hall where the Quran is recited, while women gather at the family home. Neighbours cook for the bereaved family for several days, and a memorial is held on the fortieth day after the death. For Christians, prayers are held on the third and fortieth days and on the yearly anniversary. If you are invited to offer condolences, the phrase is "al-baqiya fi hayatak" (may the rest of his life be added to yours).

Food in Egypt is about sharing. Neighbours send plates of whatever they have cooked, especially during Ramadan, and the dish always comes back full.

• Koshary, rice, lentils and pasta with tomato sauce and fried onions, was added to the UNESCO list of intangible heritage in 2025 as a daily-life dish.
• Ful medames (stewed fava beans) and ta'meya (Egyptian falafel made with fava beans) are the national breakfast.
• The molokhia gasp: when the garlic and coriander are fried and poured into molokhia, many cooks take a sharp breath ("shahqa"). Family lore says the dish will not taste right without it.
• Bread (aish) means "life" in Egyptian Arabic. Bread that falls on the ground is picked up and set aside, not stepped on.

More dishes are in our list of the most common foods in Egypt.

• Tannoura: a whirling dance with colourful skirts that grew out of Sufi practice. You can see it performed in Cairo's Islamic quarter.
• Tahtib: a stick game and dance from Upper Egypt, once a martial art, played to music at weddings and festivals. UNESCO inscribed it in 2016.
• The Hilali epic (Al-Sirah Al-Hilaliyyah): a long sung poem performed by poets with a rababa, inscribed by UNESCO in 2008.
• Semsemiah: the five-string lyre of Port Said, Ismailia and Suez, inscribed in 2024.
• Aragoz: the traditional hand puppet with a squeaky voice, on UNESCO's urgent safeguarding list since 2018.
• Goha stories: tales of a foolish wise man, told to children for centuries.
• Crafts: handmade weaving in Upper Egypt, copper and silver engraving in Khan El Khalili, palm-frond baskets and pottery in the villages.
• Mahraganat: the loud electronic street music of Cairo's popular neighbourhoods, now played at nearly every wedding.

Many Egyptians in villages wear the galabeya, a long loose robe, and many women cover their hair. In the cities, dress is a mix of modern and modest. For visitors this means:

• Women: loose clothes that cover shoulders and knees are comfortable and respectful in cities and at sites. Carry a scarf for mosques.
• Men: shorts are fine at sites and resorts; long trousers are better in mosques, churches and traditional neighbourhoods.
• Places of worship: shoes off in mosques; arms and legs covered in mosques and churches.
• Beachwear: fine on resort beaches and by the pool, not in town.

Our guide on what to wear in Egypt as a woman has a full packing list.

• Photos of people: always ask first, especially women and children. Some people expect a small tip in return.
• Baksheesh: tipping is part of daily life: restaurant staff, drivers, guides, toilet attendants, the man who opens a tomb door. Carry small notes of EGP 10, 20 and 50.
• Bargaining: expected in markets, not in supermarkets or restaurants. Smile and take your time.
• Public affection: holding hands is fine; kissing in public is not.
• Alcohol: available in hotels, many restaurants and licensed shops, but not drunk in the street.
• Feet and soles: do not point the soles of your feet at someone when you sit.

• Old Cairo and Islamic Cairo: Ramadan nights in Al-Muizz Street and Al-Hussein, coffee houses, Tannoura and the workshops of Khan El Khalili.
• The countryside: village life, bread ovens, water buffalo and galabeyas a short drive from the pyramids.
• Nubian villages in Aswan: painted houses, henna and Nubian tea with a family.
• Luxor's West Bank: farming villages and alabaster workshops on the road to the tombs.
• A hotel wedding: on Thursday evenings, many Cairo hotels host a zaffa you can watch from the lobby.

Our Cairo food tour takes you through koshary, ful, ta'meya and sweets with a local guide, and the Cairo countryside day tour shows village life near the pyramids. In Aswan, the Nubian village day tour by boat includes tea in a Nubian home.

What is the most famous tradition in Egypt?

Hospitality: every guest is offered tea or coffee, and invited to eat. Among festivals, Ramadan with its lanterns and Sham el-Nessim, the spring picnic shared by Muslims and Christians, are the best known.

What is Sham el-Nessim?

A national spring holiday on the Monday after Coptic Easter (3 May in 2027). Families picnic outdoors and eat salted fish (feseekh), coloured eggs and green onions.

Do I need to dress conservatively in Egypt?

Covering shoulders and knees is respectful in cities and at sites, and required in mosques and churches. Resort areas are relaxed; beachwear stays on the beach.

Is tipping a tradition in Egypt?

Yes. Baksheesh is expected for most small services, from restaurant staff to drivers and guides. Carry small notes.