CHIBUK SMOKING AND BELLY DANCING IN AN EGYPTIAN HAREM, 1870.

Luise Mühlbach continues her report about her visit to the Khedive's harem:

Soon the slaves came with long chibuk smoking pipes and gave one to each of us. I had already learned to smoke a chibuk and took great pleasure in drawing up smoke through a long pipe of linden wood, decorated with a fat knob of amber, but I had never seen one like this. It was two feet long and covered with a net of golden threads, interspersed with rubies and sparkling diamonds set in golden rings. The mouthpiece was made of amber and bore a wide strip of diamonds. The small golden head piece encrusted with diamonds rested on a golden plate on the carpet. The rim of the plate was also decorated with diamonds.  We smoked with serious, philosophical faces…but when you smoke there is no need to talk. The little clouds of smoke take the place of words.

After the third chibuk, six slaves, all in white dresses with pink ribbons, came carrying a large golden tray covered with a red velvet cloth embroidered with gold and pearls. Two of them took off the cloth, bowed, and retreated. Two others held out the tray, and two served us sugared fruit.They also offered  water, so that I could get the cloyingly sweet mass down my throat. Then they handed me a small gold-embroidered napkin to dab my lips.

After another round of chibuk smoking, the slaves brought Turkish coffee served in fine transparent porcelain cups, and the entertainment began.

Accompanied by clapping castanets, twirling tambourines, shrilling flutes, a long train of slaves came up the stairs into the large hall and paraded once around, first the dancers, then the musicians, and finally the singers. There were twelve dancers, dressed in wide trousers of red velvet, gathered at the ankles.

They wore gold embroidered shoes of red velvet. Their upper body was covered with a transparent silk blouse, topped by a short jacket of red velvet. Their hair, long and straight, was held together by a golden ribbon ending in a bow.

The music began, and the dancers swung forward with wondrous movements, then threw back their head and their whole upper body. A luscious, blissful smile hovered on their lips, their fiery eyes gleamed, and ecstasy showed on their faces. Their movements turned more intense, their arms flailed, and they shuddered in individual parts of their body. For the Egyptian dancers do not dance with their whole body, but only move their arms, while the remaining body rests, then they move their feet or only their upper body, and then there is this wonderful swinging and trembling in their whole body… Then finally, breathing hard, not with exhaustion but with ecstasy, the dancers sank to the floor in picturesque positions, with their head back, their mouth half open in a blissful smile.

To be continued.

(Source: Reisebriefe aus Aegypten. My translation; image: www.belly-dance.org)

A VISIT TO AN EGYPTIAN HAREM: THE UNIQUE QUALITY OF ORIENTAL EYES.

In 1869, the novelist Luise Mühlbach and her 17-year old daughter travelled to Egypt on the invitation of the Khedive and obtained permission to visit his harem. Mühlbach enjoyed great popularity both in Europe and in America as the author of some twenty historical novels, which were translated into English and French. She wrote articles about her journey to Egypt for German papers and also published a book of “travel letters” in 1870.

We were received by a group of some twenty young women [slaves] in delicate dresses, some wearing turbans on their heads, others small gold-embroidered caps or silver bands to tie back their hair. Four of them advanced smiling, took us by the upper arms and led us through the entrance hall, up a broad carpeted staircase, and into a huge hall furnished with carpets and settees. There, the slaves led us to three ladies reclining on the silk-covered settees.

A young Swiss woman, who was the governess of the royal children, acted as Mühlbach’s interpreter. The princesses (as the wives of the Khedive were styled) asked the visitor to take a seat beside them.

One of them moved the pillow on which her arm was resting and signaled to me to make myself comfortable, meaning to tuck one foot under, slide along the sofa, and rest my arm on the pillow. My daughter was given an upholstered chair to sit on.

The women of the harem know how to create and maintain a charming appearance, Mühlbach thought. They looked young and beautiful. Their black eyes were hot and fiery, the unique quality of oriental eyes. Their red lips were always ready to smile, showing two rows of splendid teeth. They are not slim, but rather luscious and full-bodied, as is popular with orientals. They wore dressed in the newest French fashion in glorious embroidered silk, and their hands, arms, and ears glittered with rich jewelry.

The princesses were intrigued by the blonde hair of Mühlbach’s daughter.

Over coffee served in golden cups decorated with diamonds, they made conversation with my daughter, praised her figure, asked her if she was married and were very surprised that she was still single at the age of seventeen. I told them that in Europe it was rare for young women of seventeen to take up the yoke of marriage. I added that this was obviously different in the orient, since the ladies all looked young and blossoming, although I knew that one of them had an adult son. They laughed and nodded and told me that they did marry rather young. The mother of the crown prince said she gave birth to her son when she was barely fourteen.

To be continued.

(Source: Reisebriefe aus Aegypten. My translation)