Do you know what is a copper bleacher?

Blurb: Copper bleaching is a famous common profession in Egypt that has a long history that is about to fade

Years ago, copper was one of the valuables Egyptians owned in their houses. Copperware had different shapes, they used it for cooking, washing clothes and was intended for guests to wash their hands after meals. Brides managed to have a lot of copper in their houses as the more the copper the wealthier the family.

Due to the daily use of copper pots and pans; they rusted and their color turned to green. Egyptians believed that their copper must be shiny like gold as it shows the guests how clean the house is, and that's how the "copper bleacher" profession appeared.

There are certain families who used to work as "copper bleachers", travel between villages and stay there for several days until they are done with their job. Women from all around the villages go to those copper bleachers to leave tons of copper to be cleaned.

To bleach copper the worker used several items like: (fire, coal, rust solvents and continuous scrubbing). The process is that the worker puts the pan on fire and stands inside it rotates it left and right with his feet until it is completely clean and all the rust and the green mold is gone.

Some of the workers sing and tend to do a dance in order to relief the pain and get the job done. The villagers wouldn't complain about the huge fire or the loud singing as they know the process is. If you are interested and want to know more about this profession click on this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C04jc6j5iKg

Translated by: Zeina Walid

Edited by: Farah Khaled