Beta
114119

Spiritual Songs of Christian Pilgrimage to Jerusalem: An Intangible Feature of Coptic Ritual

Article

Last updated: 04 Jan 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

-

Abstract

The pilgrimage represents an important feature in the religious and social life of Copts in Egypt who used to make pilgrimage to the local shrines scattered all over Egypt to show veneration and glorification to God and saints. Beside these local visits, Copts usually have an annual mystical pilgrimage to the exceptional shrine of Jerusalem which occupies a distinguished place in the heart of every Christian, as it is the place that witnessed the different biblical events of the Christ's life.One of the outstanding aspects of the Coptic pilgrimage to Jerusalem is the folk songs which are usually recited by women, describing all feelings and attitudes through the different stages of the journey from the very beginning until the end. They are composed of only two or three simple rhyming verses with fixed literary and melodic molds and are of unknown author or composer and have no written resource. These folk songs are a real embodiment of the personal piety of the Copts away from the political issues of the church. In spite of the political situation with Israel that affected the Coptic pilgrimage to Jerusalem, many Copts who are seeking for salvation still make this unforgettable journey to participate in the Easter rituals, offer sincere repentance for sins and proudly get the prestigious title of “muqades" or “the holy one". This study aims to show these songs as a crucial part of a religious Coptic rite and also as an important intangible cultural heritage that must be preserved and revitalized. 

DOI

10.21608/jaauth.2020.43088.1073

Keywords

Spiritual, Songs؛ Pilgrimage؛ Coptic؛ Jerusalem؛ Intangible؛ Heritage

Authors

First Name

Manal

Last Name

Abdelhamid

MiddleName

Mahmoud

Affiliation

Tour Guidance Dep., Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Alexandria University

Email

manalmahmoud69@yahoo.com

City

Alexandria

Orcid

-

Volume

19

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

16018

Issue Date

2020-12-01

Receive Date

2020-09-16

Publish Date

2020-12-01

Page Start

65

Page End

81

Print ISSN

1687-1863

Online ISSN

2682-4612

Link

https://jaauth.journals.ekb.eg/article_114119.html

Detail API

https://jaauth.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=114119

Order

4

Type

Original Article

Type Code

997

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Journal of Association of Arab Universities for Tourism and Hospitality

Publication Link

https://jaauth.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Spiritual Songs of Christian Pilgrimage to Jerusalem: An Intangible Feature of Coptic Ritual

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023