The Festival of Nit, Net, Neith
During the Roman period the main festival of Nit was held as the temple at Esna. It occurred on the thirteenth day of the third month of the summer season and was held to celebrate Nitīs return in her boat shrine after having saved her son Re. It has been speculated that this might have been copied from festivals held at Sais, the main cult center of Nit, which had undergone a revival during the Roman days.
In the third hour of the day it was announced that the goddess was arriving in procession. The statue was lifted out of the shrine and placed in the sunlight in order to reunite with her son Re, the sungod. The whole priesthood was then standing along the temple hall and was purified with water, offerings were made and hymns were sung.
Later the goddess was carried out for the citizens to see. The whole festival lasted well into the night when new rituals were performed. There was also a second appearance of the goddess at the quay, this time the cult statue of Nit was of a celestial cow. In the Pyramid Text there are mentionings of a cow who rose from the waters of chaos, the Great Flood (Mehet Weret). The connection to Nit here is her Creatrix aspect, that she is a Creator goddess and as such related to the primeval waters, i.e. Nun.
Finally, as the proper texts were recited, four arrows were shot to the four cardinal points, to show that Nitīs power spread over all the world. After that there certainly followed much celebrating and feasting. When the festival was over, Nit returned to her temple at Sais.
