The Pagan Heart
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June-July 2005 Issue
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Egypt's Wep-renpet - the New Year
By Anne S.
The Egyptian year lasts for 360 days. At the beginning-end are an extra five days known as the "yearly five days" - a time of great celebration and feasting. The first day is the (re)birth of Sah, the god of resurrection and life. Within the next five days Sirius will rise into the sky and the constellation of Orion will become visible. This is of importance since Sirius is considered to be the manifestation of Sopdet's soul and Orion the manifestation of Sah. This is the reunion of the ultimate Mother and Father. Seventy days earlier Sirius and Orion vanished from view - the death of Sah and Sopdet's subsequent journey to recover him and restore him to life. From the seventy days that Sirius is absent from the skies comes the traditional mummification timeframe followed by the Egyptians. By mimicking the cycle of Sah, they hoped to tie their souls to the same path with a successful reawakening in the afterlife. These, by the way, are the original names of those Egyptian deities we now know as Isis and Osirus. At this point a bit of background on the deities is necessary. Sopdet was the consort of Sah, the Father of the Gods, and mother of their child, Soped. Over time Sopdet and Sah came to be known as aspects of Aset-Isis and Aser-Osiris, and were worshiped under the names of Sopdet-Aset-Isis and Sah-Aser-Osiris. In an interesting twist on the cyclical eternal Mother and resurrecting Son-Father god, it is Sopdet-Aset-Isis who is both daughter of Sah-Aser-Osiris, and the mother of his child, Soped-Horus. We see Sopdet-Aset-Isis rise into the sky each morning as the star, Venus (separate to the spiritual linkage to Sirius), reminding us of her presence and her eternal vigilence over us, her children. Aside from her manifestation as a star, she has fleshly form as well. In Egyptian illustrations, she is commonly depicted as either a cow wearing a plant between her horns (from the associative link between of Hathor and Aset) or a woman wearing a crown between two upstanding horns and surmounted by the five pointed star of Venus. (From here we have the common association of Isis with the five-pointed star). She has also been depicted as a dog, and in her Sopdet-Aset incarnation as a woman riding a dog. Anubis, a companion of Sopdet-Aset in her guise as funerary deity, is of course the dog-jackal. At this point it is clear exactly how complex relationships and identities amongst the Egyptian deities can be. So often deities are different aspects/facets of each other, and their attributes bleed over. Anyway, back to the New Year. After Sah-Aser-Osiris's birth is celebrated, close watch for the rising of Sopdet-Aset-Isis's soul (Sirius) is held. The heliacal rising of Sirius marks the start of the agricultural year - the innundation of the Nile is about to commence. This year it is on the 26th of July. And when Sirius rises, the New Year officially begins with the festival known as the "Opening of the Year". The Feast of Sopdet was celebrated in every temple in Egypt. The priests and priestesses dressed in ritual clothing and wearing sacred masks of their deities would gather within the temples before dawn. Carrying offerings and shrines bearing the images of the Gods and Goddesses, they climbed up to the rooftops. There the shrines would be turned to face the east and opened so the deities could bathe in the first light of the New Year as the sun rose. Sopdet-Aset-Isis united with Ra and the light of the sun Father and the star Mother would pour down over them all and be ritually drawn into the deities and temples for the coming year. The shrines were then closed and carried back down into the temples. The feasting then began with the people celebrating in the streets. Sopdet's association with Hathor means that her worship was a combined one. Hathor (or Hwt-Hrw) was known as the Lady of Intoxication, and drinking was certainly a part of worship. They drank lots, making merry - unlike modern attitudes, drunkeness was seen as an almost pure state, a time of communion with the spiritual and divine. Chanting, fasting, dancing and music accompanied the eating and drinking - not quite the same as sitting at a bar and drinking steadily. The state achieved was one of altered consciousness where alcohol (and narcotics) played a role, but not the only - or even predominant - one. Altered consciousness can be achieved in many ways, but it is always an intense experience. And one where communion with the gods is an exquisite and powerful experience. For Wep-renpet this year, why not celebrate the return of the Father and his reunion with the Mother through some Egyptian style ceremony? Offer them the finest of foods and drinks and bathe them with water left out to greet the dawn. Later, drink some of the same water - partaking of the divine nature of your icons - and consume the offering meal. In this way, as the ancient Egyptians did, you can too receive the blessings of Sopdet, Sah and Re. |
Primary Article - Summer Solstice
Secondary Article - Alban Hefin
Secondary Article - Ukon Juhla
Secondary Article - Holy Day: Midsummer Reflection
Return to the Index of articles for Seasonal Festivals
