Festivals in Ancient Egypt
During ancient times, there used to be many festivals known as “Heb” throughout
the year to give thanks to the gods and make divine favors. In the festivals
in ancient Egypt, the Egyptians would offer sacrifices, offerings and celebrate
the might of the gods, but the true purpose of these festivals was to behold
the gods with their own eyes and maintain the belief structure that the world
is operated through the will of the gods as interpreted by the priests and
implemented by the Pharaoh. Festivals in Ancient Egypt simply served as
manifestations of the divine in human existence and, as such, created
a pattern of life for the Egyptian people.
Festivals in Ancient Egypt
The Egyptians organized their time to fit their festivals like the Egyptian Calendar
was divided into 12 months of exactly 30 days and the entire year was split into
three seasons, the first season was Akhet the season of flooding, the second
was Peret the season of growth and the third was Shemu the season of harvesting
plus they added five extra days to celebrate a different deity of each day with
their own special festival. The ancient Egyptian festivals would involve
a procession of a god by boat or land across a specific route such as the route found at Karnak temple.
At the beginning of each year, they would hold a festival and also at the
end to emphasize the philosophy of the eternal, cyclical nature of life. Egypt contained countless festivals across the year such as :
God’s Birthday Parties
Festivals in Ancient Egypt
This festival celebrated the superadded days at the end of the year.
Those five days brought the calendar to 365 days and in each day a specific
God is celebrated. According to the myth of creation, The goddess of the
sky Nut daughter of Ra got pregnant by her brother Geb the earth god
which angered him and declared she will not give birth on any day of the
year, which made the God of Knowledge play a game of Senet with Khonsu
and win five day’s worth of moonlight which nut gave birth in. The first day
God’s Birthday Parties
Festivals in Ancient Egypt
was the birth of Osiris, the Lord of the Duat (the Egyptian underworld), The
the second day was the birth of Horus, a very prominent falcon-headed deity
associated with kingship and the sky, The third day celebrated Seth, a god
associated with chaos, war, and the deserts of Egypt, The fourth and fifth days
celebrated the goddesses Isis and Nephthys, two sisters who were associated
with protective funerary rites and who brought the god Osiris back from the dead.
The Festival of Opet
Festivals in Ancient Egypt
Opet festival took place in Akhet during the second month, it is the most important
festival in Egyptian history and the longest celebration in the Theban festival calendar
as it stretched across 11 to 15 or even 20 days. In the festival, the king was rejuvenated
by god Amun at Thebes. The festival would start with the Theban Triad (Amun, Mut, and Khonsu)
would travel from the Karnak temple to the temple of Luxor. In Luxor temple,
Amun-Re of Karnak would unite with Amun of Luxor and ensure the re-creation
of the cosmos each year. The pharaoh was also part of this union
and participated in the regeneration of this divine power.
Egyptians New Year Day (Wepet-Renpet Festival)
This festival celebrates the beginning of the new year when the star Sothis (Sirius)
disappears from the sky then appears at the eastern horizon at the sunrise.
It also celebrated the death and rebirth of Osiris and the rejuvenation
and rebirth of the land and the people. The festival depended on the inundation of the Nile river.
The Festival of the Valley
Festivals in Ancient Egypt
The beautiful feast of the valley honors the souls of the deceased A.K.A festival
of the dead which took place between the harvest Shemu and the Nile flooding Akhet.
It celebrated the strong bond between the living and the dead and was a way to
bring the past into the present and with the help of the eternal godson into the future.
The festival is famous for being the most popular in the history of Egypt as the
the procession begins with the statues of Amun, Mut, and Khonsu (the Theban Triad)
taken from their temples to visit the mortuary temples and necropolis
across the river, plus images of the deceased carried so their souls could
join them and the living would bring flowers, food, drink offerings similar to the day of the dead in Mexico.
Sed Festival (Jubilee Festival)
Festivals in Ancient Egypt
This festival a highly specialized one celebrated by the king every thirty
years of the king’s reign in order to ensure he in complete harmony with the will
of the gods. the king also required to run around an enclosed space to prove
he fit and would shot fire arrows towards the four cardinal directions as
a symbol of his power over the land and his ability to conquer other nations
and increase Egypt’s influence, wealth, and might.
The festivals elevated the people toward the divine, bring the present with the
past and pave the way for the future or simply times where people could relax and enjoy themselves.
