News — Cairo

We now offer many pieces from the Khayamiya (tentmakers) district of old Cairo in our Etsy store. For over 1,000 years, the tentmakers of Cairo hand-stitched huge panels (some as large as 10 x 20 feet) that were attached to the interior of tents. These were primarily used for funeral gatherings, with very bright green, orange and red colors.   The designs are created by the 'appliqué' process which is stitching layers on top of canvas backing. In recent years, the tentmakers began making smaller pieces to be used as bedspreads, wall hangings, and pillowcases, using much softer color tones. The...

    Contrary to the what you might think, camels are not thought to have been in Egypt during ancient times (around 3000 BC). Camels are said to have been brought by foreign travelers and conquerors who traveled across the desert in the Ptolemaic Period (around 350 BC). Today, you can find camels in Egypt used for tourist adventures. Egyptians hold camel riding tours around the Pyramids of Giza. In an effort to provide more items that give you a taste of Egypt and a feeling of walking through Egypt itself, we have added a small camel statue to our product line. Mini...

Canopic jars were used by the ancient Egyptians during the mummification process. They were containers that held the internal organs of the deceased before mummification. The jars had lids or stoppers that were shaped as the head of one of the minor funerary deities known as the Four Sons of Horus. It was the job of these four deities to protect the internal organs of the deceased. The ancient Egyptians firmly believed that the deceased required his or her organs in order to be reborn in the Afterlife. The jars have lids in the shape of the four Sons of...

The Nile River is the central artery of Egypt. It is the sole source of drinking water and brings fertilization to the fields with the rich silt carried from deep inside Africa. The Nile is a major transportation corridor, ferrying people between the east bank and the west bank and facilitating commercial barge movement. But even with all that traffic, it is also the place where sailboats and motorboats cruise while filled with locals and tourists enjoying the sights.   In Cairo, the noise, traffic, sand, dirt, hustle-bustle and general commotion gets left behind the minute you depart from the...