Cash-strapped young Egyptians forgo popular wedding traditions
As their cost of living gets higher, Egyptian couples are being forced to go without the traditional, more expensive wedding festivities.
In a small town in the Nile Delta governorate of Damietta, an imam has been calling upon people there to keep wedding costs as low as possible to make life easier for themselves and their offspring. The residents, whose purchasing powers have declined under deteriorating economic conditions, are convinced that their imam is right.
Traditionally, bridegrooms have to buy their brides gold engagement jewelry and pay dowries. It is also customary across the country to hold a henna party before the wedding, in which artists use a paste made from dried henna leaves to paint intricate patterns on the hands of the bride.
