Live like the Egyptians

MILL CREEK — The process of making Arabic coffee is delicate, but Joe Hanna has it down to an art.

Hanna, a 46-year-old state employee who lives in Auburn, carefully mixes ground Lebanese coffee with sugar and hot water in a kanakah — a cooking tool that resembles a small, upside-down candle snuffer. He places the kanakah on a burner plate. Just before the coffee mixture boils, he pours it to be served in a small mug about the size of a shot glass.

The coffee tastes bold, strong.

Sharing his art is Hanna’s way of sharing his religion and culture with other people.

“It’s kind of like an introduction from our church to the community,” said Hanna, a member of St. Mary’s Coptic Orthodox Church in Lynnwood.

On Saturday, members of the Coptic church celebrated their 19th annual Egyptian Festival at North Creek Presbyterian Church in Mill Creek. The event was open to anyone in the community, and many people with no ties to the church stopped in, church member Maha Jahshan said.

“We like to share with the community who we are and what we represent,” said Jahshan, 25, who remembers busing tables during the annual celebration when she was a young girl.

People browsed through tables filled with custom jewelry, decorative plates and handmade porcelain — all collected by church members during trips to Egypt. At one table, people could be photographed in traditional Egyptian clothing. In a small room, others watched videos about Egypt, then learned to write their names in Arabic.

People bought baked goods from a table stacked with konafa, anise biscuits, mamool and other goods. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, men, women and children worked together to prepare dinners of stuffed grape leaves, grilled chicken, Egyptian-style vegetables, Egyptian kofta and other traditional foods.

Church members and people from the community chatted as they dined together at small, round tables.

“We can transmit love through certain acts,” said the Rev. Arsenius Shaker, the church’s priest. “We need to serve the community, it is very important in our religion.”

This year’s Egyptian Festival had even more meaning because of a fire that damaged the copper dome atop the Coptic church in Lynnwood. Since then, church members have been holding services in their basement.

All the proceeds from Saturday’s event will go to benefit the church, Jahshan said.

“This shows to us and the outside community that God is with us, and nothing is ever going to change,” she said.

Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.

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