Hathor festival
The Hathor festival (also known as the “ Little Bastet Festival of Drunkenness ” ) was held annually on the 19th and 20th of Achet I in ancient Egypt . The beginnings go back to the early dynastic period . Evidence has existed since the Middle Kingdom .
The 19th Achet I referred to the time around June 22nd, the solstice , and the arrival of the flood of the Nile . The day before, on the 18th of Achet I, the festival of the dead of Osiris was celebrated, which symbolized the lowest level and, associated with it, the death of Osiris .
In terms of content, the Hathor festival was initially only associated with the Nile flood, as the actual New Year festival was celebrated on the 1st of Wepet-renpet . Due to the precession , the date of the heliacal rising of Sirius moved to about 2400 BC. On the day of the flood of the Nile, which is why the Bastet and Hathor festivals mythologically fused.
background
Egyptian mythology
In the " Book of the Celestial Cow ", Hathor, as the bearer of the Eye of Re, plays a prominent role in Egyptian mythology : Her father Re gave her the order to kill rebellious humanity as the Eye of Re. A little later, Re regretted his decision and kept Hathor from the project with a ruse. He also had beer colored with ocher to make it look like blood and poured the beer on the ground. As expected, Hathor drank the beer and was no longer able to implement her plan while drunk. In the "Myth of the Celestial Cow" this event is described as follows:
“The fruiting land was flooded three hand's breadths high by the power of the majesty of this God (Re). This goddess went out early in the morning and found everything flooded. It made her face serene and she drank, it was good for her heart. She came drunk and could no longer recognize the people. "
Re orders later that alcoholic beverages should be prepared on the feast of Hathor in the future. In this respect, the etiology provides the basis for the celebrations of the Hathor festival.
Historical reference
From the middle of the third millennium BC BC Sopdet appeared as Sirius in the early morning at the same time as the onset of the Nile flood. The dried up earth then turned into an ocher liquid. The ocher for coloring comes explicitly from Elephantine , where Egyptologists suspect the origin of the Nile flood myth.
Festive course
Welcome drink of the Hathor
The beverages served during the celebrations are listed in liturgical texts . When Hathor arrived, the celebratory staff served the welcome drink in menu jugs while the Egyptians sang cult songs. According to the descriptions, it was a brew made from beer with a special malt content , water, date paste , myrrh and other fragrances.
As an additive, ocher was ritually added to reproduce the myth of the heavenly cow in performances during the Hathor festival. The priests solemnly transported the welcome drink for Hathor to a special temple room. Originally the welcome drink was only valid for the New Year celebrations on the 1st Wepet-renpet. However, the New Year's custom later expanded to include other important festivals.
In addition to the Hathor trunk also played a kind of red wine, a blend of liqueur and brandy , a special role, as the color with the blood of my enemies associated and the drink " Seth wine " was called. In order to appease the heart of the Hathor, after the welcome drink, the priests then presented the "Seth wine, the blood of their father's opponents" as an offering.
Observance of the ceremonial rites
On the verso of the Cairen day selection calendar is a list of the rites for the Hathor festival. On the evening of the first or second day, the festival participant should "make a great sacrifice, wash with water from the Nile, put on make-up and anoint with anointing oil and then get drunk with wine".
There was a fine line between excessive alcohol consumption and total drunkenness . Disregard of the rites was a punishable offense.
Music and singing
The texts of the cult songs show ordered stanzas and refrains . The theme is the return of Hathor and its associated properties, as well as the protection hoped for by Hathor. Instruments that were divided into two main groups accompanied the lectures. The first main group included all kinds of rhythm instruments , which in turn were divided into idiophones such as sistren and meniut as well as membranophones . The second main group consisted of string instruments such as harp , lute and lyre .
The game and the performances of the sistrum were considered the most important props of the goddess. On the other hand, drums and stringed instruments, which were only used for special celebrations, such as the New Year and Hathorf Festival, were rarely used. In the Hathor Temple in Dendera there is a corresponding chapel at the entrance to the New Year's Court with images of the festivities, on which ten women can be seen with instruments.
The seven tambourine- playing deities bear the title Hathors . The queen holds two naos sistren at the same time . The ensemble is complemented by the music goddesses from Upper and Lower Egypt , who each have a harp with a hathor head in front of them.
literature
- Rolf Krauss : Sothis and moon dates. Studies on the astronomical and technical chronology of ancient Egypt (= Hildesheimer Egyptological contributions. (HÄB). Volume 20). Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 1985, ISBN 3-8067-8086-X .
- Carola Metzner-Nebelsick (ed.): Rituals in prehistory, antiquity and the present. Studies in Near Eastern, Prehistoric and Classical Archeology, Egyptology, Ancient History, Theology and Religious Studies (= International Archeology: Working Group, Symposium, Conference, Congress 4). Interdisciplinary conference from 1st to 2nd February 2002 at the Free University of Berlin. Leidorf, Rahden 2003, ISBN 3-89646-434-5 .
- Joachim-Friedrich Quack , Kim Ryholt , Alexandra von Lieven (eds.): Hieratic texts from the Collection (= CNI Publications. Volume 30 = Carlsberg Papyri. Volume 7). Museum Tusculanum Press, Copenhagen 2006, ISBN 87-635-0405-7 .
- Richard A. Parker : The calendars of ancient Egypt (= Studies in ancient Oriental Civilization. Volume 26, ISSN 0081-7554 ). University of Chicago Press, Chicago IL 1950.
- Siegfried Schott : Altägyptische Festdaten (= Academy of Sciences and Literature. Treatises of the Humanities and Social Sciences Class. (AM-GS). 1950, Volume 10, ISSN 0002-2977 ). Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences and Literature and others, Mainz and others 1950.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Alexandra von Lieven : Wine, women and song - rituals for the dangerous goddess. In: Carola Metzner-Nebelsick (Hrsg.): Rituals in prehistory, antiquity and the present. Rahden 2003, pp. 47-55, here p. 48.