Festivals of the epoch of Old Kingdom (Egypt)

Written by Alexandra V. Mironova.

The sources for studying the festivals of the Old Kingdom (3th millennium BCE) include the Palermo Stone (mid-V dynasty), calendar lists from the Sun Temple of Nyuserre (2^nd half of V dynasty), and from private tombs in Giza and Saqqara, as well as an archive of papyri from Abusir, the Pyramid Texts, relief compositions of tombs and royal memorial temples. There are few information on festivals. Usually, there is a list of festivals in documents, but their ritual programme is not described. An exclusion is the most important royal ritual of Heb Sed, presented in reliefs of royal pyramidal and temple complexes of Djoser, Sneferu, Khufu, Sahure, Nyuserre, and Pepi II. In the Pyramid Texts, there are also descriptions of rituals of festivals of Osiris, connected to the royal funeral cult. Some rituals, mainly connected to the cult of goddess Hathor, are depicted in wall reliefs of private tombs of Giza and Saqqare (the rite of zSS wAD, ‘shaking papyrus’, for instance).

The most well-known calendar list of festivals came from the Nyuserre Temple; it is organized in the chronological order, according the seasons of the year, and includes specific dates of the beginning of festivals. The list mentions the New Year festival, the festivals of Wag, Thoth, Sadj (sAD), ‘Clothing of Anubis He who is upon his mountain’ (mnxt Inpw tpj Dw.f), Sokar, Ra Coming in Shesepibra (Xnt rA m ^cp-ib-Ra), Inebriation (txy), Flame (rqH). According to that calendar, they made abundant offerings during festivals: bread, oxen, geese, honey, milk, beer, sweets.

Lists of festivals are found also in various private tombs around Giza and Saqqara. Usually, they are located on the architrave of the entrance door and on the false door jambs. There are only names of festivals in such inscriptions, without their dates. At the same time, there is a traditional formula ‘a sacrifice given by king and Anubis’ and a list of sacrificial offerings to the dead made in the festival days. In general, it is possible to trace the following sequence of festival in the tomb lists of the Old Kingdom.

Bibliography

• El-Sabban S. Temple Festival Calendars of Ancient Egypt. Liverpool, 2000.

• Hornung E., Staehelin E. Studien zum Sedfest. Genève, 1974 (Aegyptiaca Helvetica, 1).

• Parker R. A. The Calendars of Ancient Egypt. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago pr., 1950 (SAOC, 26).

• Spalinger A. The Private Feast Lists of Ancient Egypt. Wiesbaden, 1996.

• Vymazalova H. Feasts in written evidence from the 5th dynasty royal necropolis of Abusir // Studies in Honour of Anthony J. Spalinger on the Occasion of his 70th Feast of Thoth / Eds. R. Landgráfová and J. Mynářová. Prague, 2016. P. 331–340.

Tags: Ancient Egypt, Alexandra V. Mironova, Articles, Festivals

• Prev
• Next