Funerals: after the burial, the family and close friends return home for a meal, which is usually provided by friends and neighbors. Mourners flock in to pay their condolences, and are offered black (sugarless) Turkish coffee. This used to go on for forty days (dating to Pharaonic tradition, for it was after forty days that the mummification process would be complete), but now the official days of paying condolences is only three. In those three days friends and neighbors continue to provide meals to the house of the deceased, and mourners to drink the black Turkish coffee, for during mourning nothing is sweet. The fortieth day itself is observed: Moslems receive mourners again and offer black Turkish coffee while the Koran is recited. Christians, likewise, offer typical brioches, for which Hamos in Ibrahimieh is especially famous. Visits to the cemeteries follow, on Thursdays, on Eid days, before Christmas and Easter. Food is distributed to the poor, especially an unsweetened cake called rahma, dried dates and perhaps citrus fruit when in season. The richer families would distribute fatta (rice and meat), while the poorer ones would distribute fatta of yellow lentils (rice and yellow lentils). On 2nd December Christians celebrate All Souls’ Day by praying in the cemeteries, handing out money and brioches, laying wreaths – or a single flower – on the tombs.

One feature in wedding buffets, of whatever category, is that it will have little connection with the regular diet of the household of the families involved. Whether westernized or not, they will most likely opt for a Western style menu, with the common fixture of macaroni béchamel, a great favorite with all Egyptians, and always considered a treat both because the knowledge of béchamel, let alone how to make it, will imply some culinary and intercultural sophistication, and because of the taste savored by all. Desserts, on the other hand, will be a combination of both West and Eastern cuisines, with the regular crème caramel, profiteroles, jelly as well as oriental pastries, and the all time favorite Om Ali. New is the chocolate fountain, a great favorite especially with the very young – Alexandrians are chocolate lovers, nurtured by a historic legacy of Swiss and French chocolotiers.

As the bride and groom prepare to leave, signaling the end of the wedding, they are often showered (as they may have been on their entrance) with coins of value depending on the relative affluence of the bride and groom. However, a tradition kept by all alike is to shower them with grains of rice and peas for prosperity and fertility.