Egypt celebrates the anniversary of the entry of the Holy Family on 1 June each year after they fled the murderous King Herod.
The government, represented by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and other concerned bodies, is working to revive the path of the Holy Family’s journey, developing and preparing the points located on it for receiving visitors from different countries of the world.
Along the Holy Family’s route are 25 stations in eight governorates — North Sinai, Sharkia, Gharbia, Kafr el-Sheikh, Behaira, Cairo, el-Minya and Assiut where the visitor will find antiquities in the form of churches, monasteries, water wells, and a collection of Coptic icons depicting the passage of the Holy Family.
In this year’s celebration, the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, also known as Cairo Museum, provides its visitors an opportunity to experience the journey and wander through historical and archaeological stations on the path via virtual reality glasses.
Blessed Egypt, an NGO registered with the Ministry of Social Solidarity, has provided the Cairo Museum with virtual reality and interactive technology, until the end of this month.
Maher Asham of the Blessed Egypt foundation told the Egyptian Mail the story behind establishing the ‘Holy Family in Egypt’ website and the virtual reality technology.
Twelve years ago, Asham wanted to document the sites on the Holy Family’s journey on a website accessible to anyone wanting to find out more about the topic.
After several starts and stops, Pope Francis visited Egypt in April 2017 after he had approved Egypt’s proposal for the Flight into Egypt as an official Christian pilgrimage.
Asham said that Pope Francis’ speeches made several references to the Holy Family’s visit to Egypt, which encouraged him to resume work.
He co-operated with Watani, an Egyptian newspaper with a large Copt readership to launch the website in November last year. It was officially launched by Pope Tawadros II, Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church.
“We toured most of the route of 25 sites, from Sinai in the east to Assiut in the south, and took photos and videos,” said Asham.
Information on the site is in Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian.
Later, he added virtual reality technology to the website in order to make the site more attractive for the younger generation.
“In the near future, we will add augmented reality,” he added.
The journey of entering the Holy Family began from Rafah in the north-east of the country, passing through Al-Farma east of Port Said, the Delta region at Sakha in Kafr el-Sheikh, Tell Basta in the eastern region and Samanoud in the western region. Then it moved to Wadi el-Natrun in the Western Desert, where stand the monasteries of Anba Bishoy and the Virgin Mary ‘Al-Suryan’, Baramus and Saint Abu Makar.
Then it proceeds to Mostorod and Al-Matariyya, where there is Virgin Mary’s Tree, then Zuweila Church in Cairo, to the areas of Old Cairo at Abu Serga Church in the middle of the Religious Complex, and from there to Maadi Church, which is the point where the Holy Family crossed the Nile River, where the page of the Bible appeared on the surface of the water, referring to the famous saying, “Blessed be the people of Egypt”, thence all the way to Minya, where Jabal al-Tair monastery is located, then Assiut, where the Muharraq Monastery is sited. Then it moved to Doronka cave and then back again to the homeland in Bethlehem.
Asham is currently preparing a new project that will attract children and adults. It is a game on the Holy Family’s journey in an attractive way.
Asham selected the name of the main character to be related to ancient Egypt and also to be easy to pronounce for foreigners. He is Armanti, derived from Armant, a town located about 19 km south of Thebes. It was an important Middle Kingdom town, which was enlarged during the 18th Dynasty. It is located today in the Luxor Governorate on the west bank of the Nile.
Asham said the story of Armanti began in Farma on the borders with his family. He learnt that the soldiers of King Herod were searching for the Holy family in order to kill the child.
“With the courage of the Upper Egyptian child, he ran after the Holy Family to warn them about Herod’s intention. While tracking them, he passes by the sites which holy families live or stop at.”
Asham has already written the script for the game, but he is currently looking for a programmer.
In November 2022, Egypt registered the file of celebrations related to the journey of the Holy Family on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in UNESCO.
Last week, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation in Fustat held an exhibition by Egyptian artist Manal Metwally depicting the most important points of the Holy Family’s journey.
The same paintings were exhibited last February in Vicenza, Italy, which was the first time to promote the Holy Family’s journey outside Egypt.
