Next: 3 May 2027
Sham el-Nessim
The Egyptian spring day on the Monday after Coptic Easter, with onions, salted fish and coloured eggs.
About Sham el-Nessim
Sham el-Nessim, meaning the smelling of the breeze, is kept by Egyptians of every faith on the Monday after Coptic Easter, and traces back to an old Egyptian spring festival. Families spend the day outdoors with coloured eggs, lettuce, salted fish (fesikh) and spring onions. A widely held belief is that onions have the power to keep illness and evil away, and some families hang one by the door or bed or smell one in the morning for this reason. Eggs, in some places, carry a wish or a name written on them before they are set out in the sun or sent down the Nile, as an old symbol of rebirth. Some doctors warn about the dangers of badly prepared fesikh, which has caused deaths.
Also part of it, and being written: Sham Ennessim (The festival and its foods.), Fesikh (The fermented fish eaten on the day.).
Written by the EveryJaadu desk with AI assistance. Background: "Sham Ennessim" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family, and are described as belief and practice. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.