TY  - BOOK
AU  - hager el hadidi
TI  - Zar: spirit possession, music, and healing rituals in Egypt 
SN  - 9789774166976
U1  - 390.24\ 21
PY  - 2016///]
CY  - Cairo, New York
PB  - American University in Cairo Press
KW  - Zār
KW  - Egypt
KW  - Spiritual healing
KW  - Medicine, Magic, mystic, and spagiric
KW  - Spirit possession
KW  - Music
KW  - Religious aspects
KW  - Healing
KW  - fast
N1  - Includes bibliographical references (pages 161-171) and index
N2  - "Zar is both a possessing spirit and a set of reconciliation rites between the spirits and their human hosts: living in a parallel yet invisible world, the capricious spirits manifest their anger by causing ailments for their hosts, which require ritual reconciliation, a private sacrificial rite practiced routinely by the afflicted devotees. Originally spread from Ethiopia to the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf through the nineteenth-century slave trade, in Egypt zar has incorporated elements from popular Islamic Sufi practices, including devotion to Christian and Muslim saints. The ceremonies initiate devotees-the majority of whom are Muslim women-into a community centered on a cult leader, a membership that provides them with moral orientation, social support, and a sense of belonging. Practicing zar rituals, dancing to zar songs, and experiencing trance restore their well-being, which had been compromised by gender asymmetry and globalization.This new ethnographic study of zar in Egypt is based on the author's two years of multi-sited fieldwork and firsthand knowledge as a participant, and her collection and analysis of more than three hundred zar songs, allowing her to access levels of meaning that had previously been overlooked. The result is a comprehensive and accessible exposition of the history, culture, and waning practice of zar in a modernizing world"--Front flap of book jacket
ER  -