In a quiet, dusty alleyway in Coptic Cairo, a toddler, barely 3, cries mercilessly as he was forced to get a tattoo.
A toddler cries in pain as his father holds him steady and a young man tattoos his wrist
His cries are painful, his shrieks pleading as he got the Coptic Cross tattooed on his wrist from a makeshift tattoo stall hidden in the alleyway. Tears roll down his cheeks and dissolve into his snot. His father lovingly holds him down, gently but forcefully. Around him, his mother and siblings, are beaming proudly at his rite of passage. It is a proud day for the family, all of them have the same blurry cross inked on their wrist, a testament to their loyalty to Coptic Christianity. And now, it is the youngest’s turn.
One of the many breathtaking churches nestled in Cairo’s conservative Coptic community
Theirs is a minority religion in Egypt, one that has been the victim of church bombings by religious zealots. But the attacks have not stopped them from practising and displaying their cherished faith.
The Coptic Cross displayed in a church, the same one that is tatooed on their wrists
They wear their iconic crosses proudly, around their necks and in their skin.
Family members crowd around the baby boy as the tattooing and the crying continues
The tattoo artist inking the toddler is still going through puberty himself. The teenager holds the toddler’s arm firmly to make sure it doesn’t move too much as the toddler struggles. A steady hand, both the tattoo artist’s and the toddler’s, is crucial for a good tattoo. The teen looks like he knows what he is doing, this is not his first ‘Baby’s First Cross’.
Men queueing for their turn at the roadside tattoo stall
Next to him, a chain-smoking old man tattoos an elaborate portrait of Virgin Mary on the forearm of a handsome man in pain. The handsome man cringes with every piercing of the needle, his sunglasses covering the wince in his eyes. He too, sports the same blurry cross that he got as a baby on his wrist.
The chainsmoking tattoo artists does not let his addiction gets into the way of his work
Hot, grey ash dangle dangerously from a cigarette lightly perched between the chain-smoking old man’s lips. He is now on to his second customer. He looks at his new canvas with full concentration, slowly filling in one line at a time.The cigarette ash and smoke dance dangerously close to the red, hot, skin still raw and tender from the tattoo. Behind him, a murmur of Arabic, the cooing consolation from the toddler’s family, and the mechanical buzzing of the tattoo pen break the silence of the alleyway.
Exposed to the sun, sand and dust
I stare incredulously at the normalcy of a roadside tattoo ‘parlour’, at the normalcy of a toddler getting inked. Around me, a group of men waits patiently for their turn to wear their religion on their arms. This is one scene is one that will forever be tattooed in my mind.
Read more from Egypt:
Egypt: The Rich, The Poor, And The Resilient
Egypt Is An Onion And Other Backpacking Tips
23 Curious Things To Notice When Travelling Egypt
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Bjørn
May 30, 2022 at 5:26 am
This is obviously written by a muslim that are known to harass these christian people and belive in their corrupted book that has been changed multiple times and exist in over 100 versions – the socalled “Quran”. The Quran is a manual of violence and sin. The majority population og Egypt use their “Quran” to harass the true Christian people of God and Egypt- the copts. Muslims should be fighted all over the world, as their religion is just as false as that of Mormons and other sects that corrupt the Bible. The copts are true Egyptians. The arab muslims are immigrants to Egypt that does not belong in the country, and theyt should all leave. They have only been there for 600 years. The copts are the true egyptians. Greetings from Norway.