Akhet - The Horizon

This festival was celebrated in the second month of Akhet, the season of the flooding of the river and linked to the symbolic fertility of the rising of the Nile. This was when people did not have a great workload, it was long past harvesting time and it was not yet time to plow and sow. From eleven days celebration in the times of Thutmose III, it grew to cover most of one month during the reign of Ramesses III. However, it is not documented before the 18th Dynasty.

A link to a page with a transliteration and translation of some of the Opet Scene.

The word 'Opet' means 'Secret Chamber' so it is: "The Festival of the Secret Chamber" (Heb Ipt. By this is meant the innermost chamber of Ipet-Resut, the southern temple at Waset (Thebes/Luxor). The festival celebrates the birthday of the Kingly Ka , when the King got his Divine Right to rule re-confirmed.

When the Opet festival was first celebrated, a great procession went from Karnak to Luxor. Amun-Re, carried on a veiled bark by waeb priests, made a visit to the 'inner chambers' (Opet of the South, Ipet-resyt) to Amun at Luxor.

The Barque of Amun, relief from Karnak.

In Hatshepsut´s reign, the god´s statue was carried in his bark by waeb priests by land to the Opet temple. Under way it stopped at several way stations, for the priests to rest and for offerings and prayers to be made. It travelled back to Karnak on the river, on the god´s ceremonial barque, which was escorted by the royal barque with the king himself on board.

Later, after the Amarna period, the festivities covered about 27 days and the journey went by the river both ways. The whole Theban triad of Amun, Mut and Khonsu was towed southward on their barque, both by boats under sail and by men at ropes along the shoreline. The procession was followed by dignitaries, dancers, singers, musicians and common people. Priests carried incence, sistra were shaken, there were singing and clapping of hands. All along the way there were probably merchants and peddlers offering wares to the people gathered on the shores to catch sight of the barges. There were also Oracles performed for the people. The barge would stop and people could come forward and ask simple questions which could be answered with a 'yes' or a 'no'. The priest would then tip the barge forward for 'yes' and backwards for 'no'. It was the greatest Theban festival during they whole year.

The King first offered at Karnak to Amun-Re and to Mut, and gave promises that he would renew the god´s cult. Next the King offered incence and water before the festival boats of Amun, Mut and Khonsu, while they were still resting at Karnak.

From there they were carried, in the company of the King, to the quai, where they were put on big barges, they were either towed or sailed, to the Luxor temple (Ipet Resyt).

At Luxor, the god was greeted by high dignitaries and sacrifices were made. There were also acrobats and musicians performing for the god, as well as temple personnel out to welcome him. Here, the King and the priests disappeared inside the temple.

Inside, Amun, Mut and Khonsu were brought to their respective shrines. We don´t know all the content or the meaning of the rituals which were now performed inside the temple. There might have been celebrated a sacred marriage in order to certify the ruling king as a true son of the gods but we don´t know. What is clear however is that it constituted the renewal of the King´s right and power to rule, and this happened as he entered the temple. As a manifestation, the coronation rites were repeated at this festival. The King received the various crowns and through presenting special offerings, he was renewed by the god. In this way, the Opet Festival served both as a renewal of the god Amnun-Re and the king, plus it emphasized the bonds between the gods and the people of the land.

The reason this renewal was important, was that the ancients believed that during the course of a year, the gods grew weary and their power diminished. So did also the powers of the earth and the king. The rituals, performed correctly, would ensure that the power of the Cosmos would return and renew gods and king.