Faces: People, Places, and Cultures articles from September 2006

Faces: People, Places, and Cultures archives from September 2006

Mystery photo?
September 1, 2006... Do you know what this is? The answer is on page 47. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Answer to Mystery Photo: Hats and more hats. This style of hat is for sale throughout Egypt.

High 5: welcome to a land of ancient pharaohs and pyramids. The world's largest river--the River Nile--brings life to the middle of a large desert plain. Here are five interesting facts about Egypt ...
September 1, 2006... 1 Can a river flow backward? When looking at a map of Egypt, the great Nile River appears to flow backward. Two smaller rivers, the White Nile and the Blue Nile, meet in the country of Sudan From there, the Nile flows north through Egypt...

At a glance.(Arab Republic of Egypt)(Geographic overview)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Official Name: Arab Republic of Egypt Location: Located in northern Africa, Egypt borders Libya in the west, Sudan in the south, Israel and Gaza in the northeast, and the Mediterranean Sea in the north. Area: 385,230 square miles ...

The Aswan Dam.(Aswan High Dam on Nile river)
September 1, 2006... What does it take to control the world's largest river? A dam the size of 17 Great Pyramids of Giza! Egypt's massive Aswan High Dam, located in the middle of the desert, controls the Nile, the country's main source of water. The dam is 11,811...

The Suez Canal: an east-to-west highway for ships.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Two weeks of celebrating followed the opening of the Suez Canal on November 17, 1869. Finally, a passage from Europe to India and eastward was open. Leaders throughout the world came to Egypt. Five hundred chefs from France and Italy were...

The land of the Nile.(Egypt )
September 1, 2006... Without the Nile River, Egypt would not exist. The great Nile River, the giver of life, snakes upward through the country. During August and September of centuries past, the Nile overflowed its banks, leaving behind a thin strip of fertile,...

Modern Egypt.(Chronology)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... A.D. 642 Arabs conquer Egypt. 969 The city of Cairo is founded. Eventually it becomes the center of the Muslim world. 1355 A canal is built connecting the Nile with the Red Sea. 1517 The Ottoman Turks rule Egypt. 1798 French...

The role of Islam.(Cairo)
September 1, 2006... Cairo, Egypt's capital, is one of the largest and noisiest cities in the world. Five times a day, however, something remarkable happens. Radios, honking horns, conversations--all fall silent, and a peaceful calm envelops the city. It is time...

Women in Egypt.
September 1, 2006... Very few countries allowed women the right to vote 100 years ago. Today the situation has been reversed; very few nations restrict the ability of women to vote, hold public office, or make their own decisions regarding marriage and divorce....

A beach of their own.(beach for women in Egypt)
September 1, 2006... The veils come off and the swimsuits go on as Egyptian girls and women relax on the beaches they call their own. Tall reeds and high maximum-security fences guard their privacy and large signs announce clearly, "No Cameras!" and "No Men...

Who are the Copts?(christians living in Egypt)
September 1, 2006... They may look like Muslims, speak like Muslims, and dress like Muslims, but the Copts are Christians who live in Egypt a Muslim country. According to early legends, Egyptian Christianity began with a visit from the apostle Mark in the first...

The fly on the wall: Egyptian proverbs and expressions.
September 1, 2006... In Egypt, colloquial Arabic sayings abound; there's one to spruce up every occasion with humor and words of wisdom. This is especially true when it comes to a celebration as old as life itself: the birth of a baby. "Mabrouk," meaning "You...

Arabic: the language of heaven.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Arabic is the language of the Muslim religion. The holy book of Islam, the Qur'an, is written in Arabic, and all Muslims pray and worship in Arabic. Because Muslims believe the Qur'an came straight from heaven in Arabic, it is sometimes called...

Welcome to Egypt! My name is Ahmed and I'd like to take you to some of my country's most famous sites.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... The cat, a sacred animal to ancient Egyptians, is still more popular in Egypt than in most neighboring countries. No tour of Egypt is complete without a visit to the Great Sphinx of Giza. Talk about a lion king-the Sphinx is 66 feet high,...

Growing up in Cairo.(Fouad 'Asam)
September 1, 2006... Fouad 'Asam, nicknamed Meedu, is a 12-year-old Egyptian boy from the Shoubra al-Kheyma neighborhood of Cairo. He lives in this big city in an apartment with his parents, 'Asam and Intessar, and his little sisters, Nura and Sara, who are ten and...

One stinky job.(Salima Ikram takes care of animal mummies)
September 1, 2006... Salima Ikram has what must be one of the neatest jobs in archaeology--taking care of the animal mummies in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Some of these were mummified because they were pets, and their owners wanted to have their cats, dogs, or...

Mewts.(Egypt's royal animal)
September 1, 2006... Ever wonder where your favorite cat got that "royal" attitude? Although many bemused American feline fanciers blame the gods of ancient Egypt who pampered their demanding mewts (cats), it's a different story in 21st-century Egypt. Ancient...

Eat like an Egyptian.
September 1, 2006... You'd pack some food if you were going on a long trip right? Well, ancient Egyptians believed that when people died, they would travel from this life to another, eternal one. So before the dead were buried, their families filled their tombs...

Window on the world.(Bibliotheca Alexandrina)
September 1, 2006... Nearby the site of the legendary Library of Alexandria, famous for once holding copies of all the books in the world, a new set of buildings called the Bibliotheca Alexandrina is rising. While this new facility has a long way to go to match the...

Luxor market: "... shoppers continue ... until the sun starts to set, and another market day in Luxor is over.".
September 1, 2006... It is early morning in Luxor, but the city is alive with noise. Locals and tourists are jostling through the city's back streets, haggling for the best prices. My son Simon and I are spending two weeks traveling Egypt. We have heard a great...

Today's celebrations in the land of the pharaohs.(Christmas, Easter and Ramadan celebrated)
September 1, 2006... For many people Egypt evokes images of mysterious rites, secret passages, and gigantic monuments of the pharaohs' dreams for eternity. It brings to mind the Nile's life-giving water, and fills the inner eye with a glimpse of the vision that...

Manga winners!
September 1, 2006... Honorable Mention: "Blue Bandit" by Joel Lara age 13, Burlington, WI Honorable Mention: Sarah J. Precup Chandler, AZ 1st Prize Elizabeth Dolbrow age 16 Slatington, PA 2nd Prize Susanna Bishop Nashua, NH 3rd Prize Kourtney Lark...

Ask Faces!(postal service on Sunday, languages spoken in Europe)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Here is your chance to send us your questions about people, places, and cultures from all over the world. Each month, our experts will answer several questions from readers like you. Want to know where the world's highest mountain is located?...

Face facts.(An Ancient Egyptian Legend)(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2006... The Egyptian version of Sesame Street, which debuted in 2000, includes a female puppet named Khokha (which means "peach" in Arabic) who inspires young girls to follow their dreams and get an education. An Ancient Egyptian Legend retold by...

The curse of Ra: an ancient Egyptian legend.
September 1, 2006... Characters: Narrator; Ra, the sun god; Thoth, the god of wisdom; Nut, the goddess of the sky; Khonsu, the god of the moon. Narrator: Many, many moons ago, when there were only 360 days in a year, the people of Egypt worshipped many gods....

Art connection: for about 3,000 years, Egyptian artists had a certain way (called a style) of drawing people and animals.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Look at the drawing below. The person in this drawing is shown in the typical style of ancient Egyptian art. Egyptians thought it was more important to make the body parts easy to identify rather than make the image look "real." Body...

The Egyptology Handbook.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
September 1, 2006... The Egyptology Handbook covers the history and culture of the Egyptian empire. Emily Sands, the narrator, took a tour of Egypt during the 1920s on a boat called The Bennu Bird. Emily is the rich, crazy aunt you wish you had. Aunt Emily, who is...

Say what?(One Last Face)
September 1, 2006... Write a caption this photograph. The best entries will be published in an upcoming issue! Send your captions to facesmag@yahoo.com.

Mummy wrap.
September 1, 2006... What a tangled mess! Starting at the arrows, figure out which wrap goes with which mummy. (HINT: use a different colored pencil for each path.) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Answer to Back Cover Activity. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]