Local Hamden church celebrates and shares culture during annual Egyptian festival

400 Ridge Road in Hamden was a vibrant display of culture this past weekend during the annual Virgin Mary & Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church’s Egyptian festival.

The festival, which has been ongoing for 12 years, was founded by Father Abraham Azmy and has seen significant growth since its inception. It also used to be held at the church’s old location of 87 Benham Street in Hamden and is now held at a new, larger facility with more room for celebration.

The festival had a plethora of activities and attractions that celebrated Egyptian culture, such as face painting, yard games, a photo booth, henna tattoos, an array of various Egyptian foods and tours of the church.

Church member Marlene Boulas explained that the goal of this event is much bigger than dollar signs.

“It’s obviously a huge fundraiser for us, but it’s also a way for us to reach out to the community,” said Marlene Boulas. “It’s been awesome seeing people from outside the congregation get to experience a little bit of Egyptian culture.”

While many of the churchgoers were in attendance, people from outside of the faith could also be found enjoying themselves. Marlene said that anyone from any religious background was welcome and able to divulge in Egyptian culture.

“It’s a very open and welcoming environment, you can come and ask whatever you want and experience whatever you want. It’s a great way to get an introduction to Arab culture if you’ve never had one and a great introduction to the Orthodox Church as well,” Marlene said.

At the event, many attendees could be seen enjoying Egyptian cuisine including gyros while church members sang religious songs. Special Egyptian groceries like apple soda and ketchup-flavored potato chips could also be purchased among the many homemade foods to try.

Several long-lasting products including jewelry, paintings and miniature pyramids were also available to be purchased. 

Marlene’s brother Mark Boulas, a 2016 Quinnipiac University alumnus, explained that his favorite aspect of the festival are the conversations that are started and what can be learned from them.

“If you go into the church right now, there’s a ton of people in there who are like, of all different races, religions, like everything you can imagine talking to one of our deacons sort of just picking his brain about the faith so it’s pretty interesting to watch,” Mark said.

For those that did attend, Mark said he hopes that they learned something, whatever that may be.

“It could be literally a new food that they didn’t know about, or it could be something from the faith they didn’t know about or it could just be to talk to people that they normally wouldn’t have a chance to talk to,” Mark said.

Mark also said he feels that people should branch out and try new things like cultural events to enhance their outlooks on others and become more of a part of their communities.

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be Egyptian culture,” said Mark. “It could be any culture. It’s just good for you as a person to sort of see how other people live their lives and what they value in their life.”