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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...