Akhet - The Horizon

The Festival of the Beautiful Reunion and the Festival of Behdet

Festivals in general, wether on a national or a local scale, were occasions for common people to meet their gods, either in processions or in the courtyards of the temples. There the worshippers could partake of some of the ceremonies, leave offerings and pray to their deities. Often there were so called 'oracles', by which is meant that questions aimed at a 'yes' or 'no' answer was directed at the statue of the god, which would consider the question and leave an answer where for example a tilt forward would mean 'yes' and a tilt backwards would mean 'no'. These processions, where the god was transported around the city or town on a barque carried on the shoulders of priests, were well-attended occasions and a great cause for festivites.

There were festivals of different kinds and with different purposes. There were birthdays of the gods, there were jubilees and celebrations of renewal of power or of life, or they were aimed at rebirth or fertility. While they did not all have a renewal aspect as their purpose, once these were established, they could change and drift towards this purpose by time, which meant that an aspect of renewal could seep into almost any kind of festival or jubilee.

The Festival of the Beautiful Reunion
Or the Festival of the Sacred Marriage, the Festival of the Joyous Reunion, the Festival of the Goodly Reunion..... it is translated in several ways. In ancient Egyptian it was called hb n shn and was a festival built out of both ritual and mythical traditions; Hethert arrived in Edfu as the goddess of life, love and vitalty and its emphasis was on the cyclical renewal of life. Inscriptions on the walls of the temple of Heru the Elder at Edfu, the ancient cult center of Heru of Behdet, tell its story:

The festival was celebrated in the third month of Shomu, which means June-July, when HetHert travelled from her home at Dendera to go 180 km (110 miles) south to Edfu and the temple of Heru. There she would stay for two weeks while the marriage was consecrated inside the temple. She was greeted and celebrated as the 'Returning Eye of Re', which promised fertility and renewed life to the earth and to humans. After the fourteen days, HetHert would sail back to Dendera to await the birth of the child conceived at Edfu -Har-mau (Hor-sma tawy) or Greek: Harsomtus: Horus the Uniter.

Although quality leaves some things to be desired, this is my own photo of the Barque of HetHert from the wall at the temple of Heru at Edfu. If you look carefully, you can see the head of HetHert at the prow and the stern.

Starting out
Preparations for the journey took place at Dendera two weeks before the New Moon. Elaborate rituals and celebrations, including offerings of the first fruit of the fields, the driving of the cattle and the presentation of the earth, were perfromed as HetHert was carried out of her temple. She was then placed on her state barque which was to be towed on the Nile upstreams, accompanied by a veritable flotilla of boats. On board were the town mayor and other dignitaries of Dendera as well as members of the priesthood. The procession took 14 days to arrive at Edfu as it made stops in several towns along the way, visiting sanctuaries of other deities and acquiring an ever-growing company of followers, from high town officials, priesthood at other temples and commoners and pilgrims of all walks and trades. This festival was probably one of the most well-known and well-loved festivals, gaining great numbers of partakers, at least in Upper Egypt, between Dendera and Elephantine (modern Aswan), probably for the reason that a large part of the festival´s proceedings took place outside the temples which gave good opportunities for people to take part in it.

Under way
From the temple inscriptions at Edfu at least some of the stops of the procession of HetHert are known; at Karnak to visit Mut of Isheru, at Pi-mer (modern Komir) and at Nekhen (Gr: Hierakonpolis, modern El-Kab) where the priests brought with them the statue of the local aspect of Heru. At all stops elaborate rituals and offerings were made, to celebrate the renewal of the earth and things that came out from it.

Arrival in Edfu
After fourteen days of travelling the great barque of HetHert and the by then probably immense number of accompanying boats and barges of all kinds and sizes, arrived at Edfu in the late afternoon. On the quay the goddess was received by the statue of Heru, the mayor of Elephantine and an eagerly waiting crowd of worshippers. The two statues were then brought to a shrine nearby, where the ritual of the Opening of the Mouth was conducted, and for the second time, riituals of the offering of the first fruits, of Ma'at, of driving the calves (see below) etc were made. After the rituals, the two statues were again placed on their boats and taken via a canal to a landing close by the temple. But before going ashore, there was yet a stop by a place called the Mound of Geb, where the ritual of Opening the Mouth was performed once again along with other offerings.

Once ashore, the statues of Heru and HetHert were brought, accompanied by songs of welcome, sprinkling of purifying water and burning of incense, into the outer court of the temple via a side door in the southeast wall. The inscriptions do not tell what occurred after this point, which may seem strange. Speculations are that Heru and HetHert spent the night in the mamissi. There are depictions of her boat on the wall of the so called Sanctuary of the High Seat and so perhaps it was there that the two gods now spent the next fourteen nights before HetHert´s return to Dendera.

It is fair to assume that delegates from other clergies as well as high dignitaries were entitled to take part of rituals inside the temple grounds while pilgrims and townspeople could take advantage of the free handouts of food and drink and celebrations outside during the 'wedding night'. These were provided by the temples and also brought by the visiting majors and other high dignitaries. Of this the inscriptions tell:

"There are all kinds of bread in loaves numerous as grains of sand. Oxen abound like locusts. The smell of roast fowl, gazelle, oryx and ibex reaches the sky. Wine flows freely throughout the town like the Nile. Flood bursting forth from the Two Caverns. Myrrh scattered on the brazier with incense can be smelled a mile away. The city is bestrewn with faience, glittering with natron and garlanded with flowers and fresh herbs. Its youths are drunk, its citizens are glad, its young maidens are beautiful to behold; rejoicing is all around it and festivity is in all its quarters. There is no sleep to be had until dawn"

From:
'The House of Horus at Edfu. Ritual in an Ancient Egyptian Temple' (p 106) - Barbara Watterson.

The Festival of Behdet
On the morning of the second day at Edfu it is no longer the Beautiful Reunion which is the focus of the celebrations. Now the Festival of Behdet is the one talked of by the inscriptions. (Behdet = originally a location in the northwest Delta. Horus of Behdet = a form of Heru as the hawk-winged sundisc). On this day, the statues of HetHert and Heru are brought in a great procession out in the desert some distance to the southwest, to the burial ground of Behdet. The statues of those deities which had accompanied HetHert to Edfu, were following in this procession, as did a large number of priesthood, visiting dignitaries and pilgrims. At the head of the procession were five sacred lances being carried.

The burial ground of Behdet consisted of at least five different mounds within a sacred grove of trees. These mounds were where the 'Divine Ancestors of Edfu' were buried. At the edge of this sacred grove was the 'Upper Temple', which also existed at other Ptolemeian temple burial grounds. The rites performed here were reminding of the rites at the Passion Plays of Wesir conducted at the Abaton (Island of Bigeh by Philae), which is saying something about the character both of these rituals and of the Festival of Behdet.

The Divine Ancestors
There are several inscriptions on the temple walls at Edfu which show libations being poured and incense being burnt to the Divine Ancestors. These were said to be the children of Re and to have arrived together with him from the 'High Hill', journeying through the Two Lands and settling at Behdet (here: Edfu). At another inscription they are said to have been born in Hesret, the necropolis of Khemenu, modern el-Ashmunein and to have travelled from Henen-nesut (Herakleopolis) to Behdet in Upper Egypt.

Here they then gave birth to the inhabitants of both Upper and Lower Egypt. They were nine giants, Ba-neb-Djedet being the eldest of them and 36 cubits tall (ca 75 feet, 22.86 m):

Ba-neb-Djedet - The ram who is Lord of Djedet ( a town in the Western Delta whre the soul of Wesir was worshipped as a sacred ram).
Hor-shefy - Horus the ram-headed.
Menhi-wer - The Great Butcher.
Hor-shedet - Horus of the Fayium.
Neteraa-em-sepetef - The Great God in his Province.
Neb-shennu - The Lord of trees.
Bennu - The Bennu bird (Gr: Phoenix).
Henty-Bedhet - The One who is preeminent in Behdet.
Neb-Hoot-Waret - The Lord of Hoot-Waret (the Mansion of the Leg of Wesir, Gr: Avaris)

The Ritual of Driving the Calves and the Treading of the Grave
Driving four calves over cut emmer-wheat, in the presence of Heru and HetHert, and also the King, if he partook of the festival, was an ancient precautionary ceremony associated with Wesir whose burial was ritually enacted every year to ensure fertility of the earth. By letting the animals walk back and forth over it, it was assumed any trace of the burial ground would be obliterated so that the corn could grow undiscovered and unharmed by enemies. There are several depcitions of this on the walls of the temple at Edfu, where it is rather the tombs of the Ancestors which are trodden on, so that they, like Wesir, would keep Egypt fertile for yet another year.

Heru Triumfs over Set
Apart from the abovementioned, the rites performed at the first mound were offerings of bread, beer, birds, bulls on behalf of HetHert and Heru. Hymns were sung and 'every good thing' was carried forward. After the rites were concluded, there were festivities following before the procession returned to a building called the House of Life, thought to have been located near the temple of Edfu in the afternoon. New rites were conducted here which entailed the slaughtering of a red bull and a red goat, which, due to the color, were associated with Set. After this, four geese were released to the four compass points with the message that Heru of Behdet had acquired the White Crown of Upper Egypt and the Red Crown of Lower Egypt. A priest representing Heru, son of Wesir and called 'the Beloved Son', then shot off four arrows in the four directions south, east, north and west, thereby establishing the rule of Heru.

Destruction of the Enemies
Other rites followed next, intended to ward off any evil and to demonstrate that the enemies of the King had been destroyed and that the people, who were witnessing this part of the rites, were protected by the King. These rites included destruction of symbols of the king´s enemies. There was a wax model of a red hippopotamus on which the names of the king´s enemies had been inscribed. Then followed the destruction of this model: 'every harmful thing that you can think of was done to them'. After this there was the rite called the 'trampling of the fishes' where the king´s enemies in the form of fishes were stepped on and trampled down and then either the king himself or his representative, struck the enemies with a sword. It is to be assumed that the king was present sometimes and represented by someone else at other times. After the rites of destruction of the enemies were concluded, there was beer and wine drinking in the presence of Heru and HetHert, whose statues later were withdrawn for the night while the people went on feasting.

The remaining three days of the Festival of Behdet were conducted more or less in the same way; there was a procession going out to the Sacred Grove and the Upper Temple where rites were performed, each day at a different burial mound until all had been attended to. So while the first day of the fourteen day long festival period (the day of the New Moon), was spent celebrating the Beautiful Reunion, the second, third and fourth day were taken up with the Festival of Behdet. What happened during the rest of the festival is unclear.

When the fourteen days had passed, on the day of the Full Moon, HetHert left the Mamissi and, accompanied by Heru, left Edfu by the canal to go back to her barque on the Nile. But before she left, once again the rituals of the Opening of the Mouth and the treading of the cattle etc, were performed. Then, lastly, after there had been the reciting of the hymn to the Sacred Harpoon of Heru, the goddess departed and was towed back to Dendera.

The Purpose of the two Festivals
So each year the Sacred Union between HetHert of Dendera and Horus of Edfu was celebrated with great festivities and many rituals - but in reality there was something else besides taking place. On the day after the marriage was thought to have been consumed, focus changes and the Divine Ancestors become uppermost in the mind of the celebrants. These were the Ancestors of all Egyptians and so the rituals at their burial ground must have acted also as a mortuary cult - taking care of the deceased and ensuring their living forever hereafter. And to all ends and purposes, HetHert and Horus must have 'acted' as the mortuary priests/officiants. In this way, they ensured not only life and fertility of the earth, but also ascertained that the Ancestors in the Field of Reeds remained in the memory of the living and therefore would continue to provide for the humans. As Heru had conquered Set and assumed rule over the Two Lands and destroyed the enemies of the King, it had been proved that the King´s rule was established, and as HetHert had returned to Edfu, bringing with her life and fertility, all the celebrations converged into making sure that the gods would remain in Egypt and that the country would go on prospering both materially and spiritually for yet another year.