Siwan festivals are the most public side of a largely private culture, so it's worth making an effort to attend one. Since many Egyptians enjoy going to them, it is wise to reserve a room well in advance, and get there several days early, as buses to the oasis fill up nearer the time.

 

The largest and most famous is the Siayha , or Tourism Festival , which, despite its name, is a genuine event with a long tradition. Some 10,000 Siwans assemble at Jebel Dakhrour for three days of feasting, dancing and relaxation - acting as tourists in their own oasis. A sheikh from Sidi Barrani comes in to bless the feast with an inaugural Bism'allah! (in the name of God). Many non-Siwans and foreigners come too, and are made welcome. Siayha always occurs during the period of the full moon in October.

Two other festivals are celebrated by Muslims everywhere: the Lesser Bairam , at the end of Ramadan, occasioning festivities similar to those elsewhere in Egypt; and the Corban Bairam (Great Feast), which starts earlier in Siwa. The gathering of fuel and salt over the preceding nine days is reckoned as much a part of the event as the mass slaughter of sheep after festival prayers on the tenth day of Zoul Hagga. The sheep's hide is stewed together with its offal in an earthenware pot; its head and stomach are eaten the next day, when cuts of meat are distributed amongst relatives (new brides especially); and finally, any leftovers are preserved.

The Moulid of Sidi Suleyman is a less carnivorous affair, with banners, candles and Dervishes performing zikrs outside his tomb beside the mosque. Siwans recall how its doors refused to open after their ancestors spurned some poor Bedouin pilgrims, and how Sidi Suleyman once conjured up a sandstorm to bury an army of Tibbu raiders. Held just after the corn harvest, his moulid subsumes two older, pagan festivals, where vast amounts of palm-liquor were openly consumed. Such excesses no longer occur. The festival is also known as the Moulid en Tagmigra. Less noticeably, 21 other sheikhs are honoured by small moulids throughout the year.

Ashura , on the tenth of Moharram, was once Siwa's principal feast, and fervently Shi'ite; the Fatimid Shia reached Egypt via the North African oases. Nowadays it's chiefly an event for children, who decorate their homes with palm stalks soaked in olive oil, and fire them at sunset, singing while the town is illuminated by torchlight. Afterwards the children go from house to house exchanging presents.