El Sebou' : Egyptian birth ritual
Film et Vidéo
- Auteurs : EL Guindi Fadwa ;
- Editeurs : Watertown, MA Documentary Educational Resources ;
- Date d'édition : 2006
- Sujets : Naissance -- Rites et coutumes -- Égypte, Films ethnographiques
- Comprend : Egyptian birth ritual
- Langue(s) : Anglais
- Description matérielle : 1 DVD (27 min.), : Coul. (PAL), son.
- Pays de publication : États-Unis
Résumé
In Egypt, a birth ritual called el-sebou', meaning 'the seventh', happens on the seventh day following the physical birth of a child of either sex and is celebrated by Coptic and Muslim families of all status groups, rural and urban. Characteristic of this ritual is the gender-linked imagery also manifest in the ritual clay pot. The ceremony celebrates the newborn's crossing a threshold from a neutral gender and status into a world of gender differentiation and family hierarchy. This particular sebou' is celebrated for twins, a boy and a girl, in a rising middle class Muslim family in urban Egypt. Anthropologist Fadwa El Guindi portrays the sebou' ritual as a rite of passage with the universal three phases of transition (separation, liminality, incorporation) and as the key ceremony in an individual's life cycle until marriage. Focusing on – and showing the proveniences of – the variety of objects and materials, the film’s perspective highlights the central role of the female ritual leader and provides a kinesthetic spatial sense of the ceremony. The editing combines both an analytic and an emic approach, allowing the participants to speak for themselves without losing a broader anthropological perspective.