Zar

Spirit Possession, Music, and Healing Rituals in Egypt

By: Hager El Hadidi

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Paperback | 15 November 2022

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Paperback
200 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
15.1 x 22.9 x 1.3

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An examination of the history and waning culture of zar in Egypt, and the world in which Muslim women negotiate relations with spirits

Zar is both a possessing spirit and a set of reconciliation rites between the spirits and their human hosts: living in a parallel yet invisible world, the capricious spirits manifest their anger by causing ailments for their hosts, which require ritual reconciliation, a private sacrificial rite practiced routinely by the afflicted devotees. Originally spread from Ethiopia to the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf through the nineteenth-century slave trade, in Egypt zar has incorporated elements from popular Islamic Sufi practices, including devotion to Christian and Muslim saints. The ceremonies initiate devotees-the majority of whom are Muslim women-into a community centered on a cult leader, a membership that provides them with moral orientation, social support, and a sense of belonging. Practicing zar rituals, dancing to zar songs, and experiencing trance restore their well-being, which had been compromised by gender asymmetry and globalization.

This new ethnographic study of zar in Egypt is based on the author's two years of multi-sited fieldwork and firsthand knowledge as a participant, and her collection and analysis of more than three hundred zar songs, allowing her to access levels of meaning that had previously been overlooked. The result is a comprehensive and accessible exposition of the history, culture, and waning practice of zar in a modernizing world.

Industry Reviews

"[A]n important contribution to the understanding of zar in Egypt."-Nova Religio

"This is a valuable study in itself, even more so for its hybrid approach to studying religion, spirituality and performance as embodied experience."--Performance, Religion, and Spirituality

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