Zar is a group of similar folk rituals, with special dances and special phrases, accompanied by certain loud beats on tambourines and the release of incense. Al-Zar is an Arabic word probably borrowed from the Amharic language , and some researchers believe that the origin of the word Al-Zar is Arabic, and it is from the bad luck visitor. This group of similar folk rituals works to expel the goblins that reincarnate some people, and therefore the Zar performs a therapeutic function for its believers.
It seems that the common beliefs in expelling the demons of the dice or paradise have passed from Abyssinia to the Islamic world. It is likely that the rituals related to the dice in Egypt were transferred to it in the 19th century, because its Amharic name “dice” and its special characteristics for expelling orcs and evoking it are clear evidence for researchers that its origin is from northern Abyssinia . It is customary for these rituals of expelling orcs to be performed by a woman, who is the sheikha or the fortune-teller, and among the common people of Egypt, “Al-Kadiyah”. Their treatment of orcs differs according to the place from which they came. This is because they differentiate between the orcs of Egypt and the orcs of Upper Egypt and Sudan, and sometimes they also differentiate between the beliefs and occupations of the goblins . Research has been published in Cairo on vilification of the zar, and psychological, social and popular studies are studying the things of this ritual.
Zar history and belief
Zar is originally a pagan ritual of primitive African tribes. It moved from Abyssinia to Sudan and from there to Egypt in 1870 AD , and from Egypt to the rest of the Arab countries. It is believed that invoking the spirits of ancestors, masters, and sheikhs, and fulfilling their requests or reincarnating their spirits , may lead to the healing of patients who possess them. Jinn.
In Egypt
After the zar moved from Abyssinia to Egypt, it turned over time into a ceremonial ritual to expel “the jinn and goblins”, which includes performing arts. And the lady has to sit on a chair in the middle of the room, and any animal is slaughtered on her head to get close to the masters, and a group of women and men revolve around her in a specific dance accompanied by beating on tambourines and drums and spreading incense, and this ritual continues until one of the patients or the clothes of the jinn falls on The earth begins to scream and ache, and most of those who attend these sessions are women, and at the present time such rituals are still performed in Egypt, specifically in villages and popular areas such as Al-Darb Al-Ahmar, Al-Ghouria, Al-Sayeda Zeinab, and Al-Qanater Al-Khairiya.
Rahma Qader,