Driving up Pleasant Street toward Newton Square two nights ago, I saw the nearly full moon. For now, big moons still remind me of my daughter. She is nearly thirteen weeks old and was born at 4:20 p.m. under the rising supermoon of June 23. On the eve of her birth and this rare lunar event I toured Coptic Cairo with Justin and our midwife, Erika. Feeling nostalgic, I spent some time this week looking through photographs of this trip and would like to share them here.
I apologize for not offering more history of Coptic Cairo or explanation of the photos. My mothering mind and body are as bleary as my eyes these days. And although I so clearly see writing ahead of me, it remains more or less beyond my reach. Looking at the images without a complete understanding actually feels more apropos to my supremely pregnant and somewhat disorienting experience in this very old part of the city (the Coptic Orthodox Church is believed to have been established in the first century).
We walked for hours under a severe Egyptian summer sun, among giant stone angels, tombs, crosses, and mausoleums. Churches from as far back as the year 690 were literally above and below us. The Hanging Church, which is built suspended over a gatehouse of Babylon Fortress, swallowed us whole. In hindsight it was an awfully wild place to be on the eve of May's birth. The moon and ancient holy temples above drew my gaze heavenward; May and an ancient fortress below pulled my being downward. I felt stretched... or better yet, dilated... in every direction.
If you feel like getting lost in nearly two hundred images of this ancient place, click here to view our full (un-edited) album.
I apologize for not offering more history of Coptic Cairo or explanation of the photos. My mothering mind and body are as bleary as my eyes these days. And although I so clearly see writing ahead of me, it remains more or less beyond my reach. Looking at the images without a complete understanding actually feels more apropos to my supremely pregnant and somewhat disorienting experience in this very old part of the city (the Coptic Orthodox Church is believed to have been established in the first century).
We walked for hours under a severe Egyptian summer sun, among giant stone angels, tombs, crosses, and mausoleums. Churches from as far back as the year 690 were literally above and below us. The Hanging Church, which is built suspended over a gatehouse of Babylon Fortress, swallowed us whole. In hindsight it was an awfully wild place to be on the eve of May's birth. The moon and ancient holy temples above drew my gaze heavenward; May and an ancient fortress below pulled my being downward. I felt stretched... or better yet, dilated... in every direction.
If you feel like getting lost in nearly two hundred images of this ancient place, click here to view our full (un-edited) album.
