Hajj Paintings: Folk Art of the Great Pilgrimage

Abstract

"Hajj Paintings: Folk Art of the Great Pilgrimage," by Ann Parker and Avon Neal, is reviewed.

Hajj Paintings: Folk Art of the Great Pilgrimage, by Ann Parker and Avon Neal. Washington, DC and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995. xxvii + 158 pages. Gloss. to p. 161. List of Artists to p. 162. List of Plates to p. 164. $50.

Tourists to Egypt are often delighted by the depictions of the Ka`ba and the journey to it, and of scenes of worship that sometimes appear on the homes of rural people who have made the hajj, the Great Pilgrimage to Mecca. It is a rare and often fascinating form of Islamic folk art, which seems to be almost entirely Egyptian. Characteristically, this art is found in Upper Egypt, as well as in Delta villages, and sometimes even on the fringes of cities where villagers have come to colonize the proliferating new settlements.

This beautiful book is a compilation of photographs of hajj art. It carefully considers these folk paintings for what appears to be the first time, and adds a long section on the pilgrimage-which can make it useful for teaching about the hajj, the obligatory journey to Mecca in the "days numbered," which is the greatest experience in many Muslims' lives.

In a brief introduction, Robert Fernea points out that just as people decorate the cars of newlyweds to mark their transition to a new public status, so this living religious folk art commemorates the "fundamental change in social identity" (p. x) that the hajj pilgrimage brings. It is difficult to estimate how old the custom may be in Egypt, because the paintings are fragile and rarely last even three decades. In Egypt and elsewhere, white-washing the facade of a pilgrim's house (sometimes adding pale blue) is an old custom, since the hajj "whitens the face," i.e., brings respect and prestige. It is on these facades that paintings are usually placed, although they can be found within the house as well. Weather and time efface them, so they necessarily become folk art with little history.

Religion is a powerful motivator, and "these spectacular naive paintings are Egypt's most significant contribution to the contemporary international folk art scene" (p. 2). It remains a puzzle as to why they apparently occur only in Egypt. Parker and Neal's suggestion that hajj art may stem from Pharaonic art strikes this reviewer as very dubious. The earliest mention of hajj pictures seems to occur in a guide-book of 1878,' a time when Egyptians were being made aware of paintings in ancient Egyptian tombs by the excitement of the Europeans who came to visit them, pious village Muslims would have seen Pharaonic paintings only as traces of the idolatry of Pharaoh's people, from which Islam had mercifully delivered them, and certainly as nothing to be imitated. In modem times, however, there has been some contamination, with pictures created to imitate Pharaonic art. Commercial souvenir stores of Guma (here eccentrically called "Kuma") on the west bank of Thebes or of Nazlat as-Samman near Cairo, run by villagers who have made their living for generations from Western tourist enthusiasms for ancient Egypt, sometimes engage the village hajj painters to decorate their shops. The painters seek to oblige with naive designs imitating Pharaonic art. For example, paintings on the "Amon of Alabastar" shop of Guma imitate the near 18th-dynasty tomb of Sennufer and appear along with Arab cavaliers and cudgeldancers of the same sort that may appear in celebratory pictures; but, although this example is presented as hajj painting (p. 15), it bears not one reference to the hajj even in the name of the proprietor. Instead of the Ka`ba, we are shown pictures of tombs-mummies repose in sarcophagi at the bottom of shafts, while folk in Arab dress make merry above. Then, in a genuine hajj painting in the same village, illustrated opposite the title page, a diademed Pharaonic figure appears, bearing an ankh ("key of life").

The painter is often the village school-master, who may have had a little art training. The usually flat and two dimensional pictures today often show modelling which conveys the sense of a third dimension. Some seem to show the influence of poster art. One artist, in particular, `Id Yasin `Ali, shows real creativity in his painting of the word labbayk (p. 156), the pilgrims' cry of "Here I am (Lord)!," embracing the heads of a crowd wearing hajj garb; minarets are depicted on the uprights of the letters lam and kaf; and opposite the Ka`ba, surrounded by a white-garbed multitude, a Quranic recitation is cradled in the word al-bayt (the House): "Due to God from humankind is the hajj to al-bayt, whoever can make a way there" (Quran 3:97).

It is unfortunate that the authors did not get a careful translation of the Arabic inscriptions which often accompany the pictures. For example, on p. 113, the verses al-rahman 'allama al-Quran; khalaqa al-insan; 'allamahu al-bayan" (The Compassionate made known the Quran; He created the human being; He taught it utterance [Quran 55:1-4]), are translated as "God created all people and gave them knowledge." An unnecessary error is for the phrase "ya rabb," "0 Lord!" to be more than once rendered as "Allah" (pp. xxiv, 71, 84). On p. 50, "Allah is the Light of the heavens and of the earth" becomes "Allah the Great, Allah Who Commands Heaven and Earth." The glossary has a number of typographical and other errors as well.

Nonetheless, this is a delightful book. The beautiful photographs taken by Ann Parker and the fine production make this volume a very attractive acquisition. The photographer's husband, Avon Neal, has written a good description of the rites of hajj, which helps put the pictures in context. Notes on painters and painting sites are appended.

By photographically recording these ephemeral and hitherto ignored images of a central act of Muslim worship, this handsome volume has preserved them. It is an achievement to be hailed.

Footnote

1. Georg Ebers, Egypt: Descriptive, Historical, and Picturesque.