ACTA Special Reports
Normally we include a guest editorial in our global news, but as it's summer and we wanted to keep the Acta light this issue, we've instead stolen a well researched, interesting explanation of the historical Opet festival, originally found in Egypt's World News this issue *he he*. Thank you Egypt! KMT's hosted Opet festivities have always been a fabulous shindig here in ancient worlds. I don't know about you, but I would love to know how the ancient Egyptians celebrated it. (Wonder if it was as fun as KMT's? nah.)
Opet
by
Mirjam Nebet
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.
In Hatshepsutīs reign, the godīs statue was carried in his bargue by waeb priests by land to the Opet temple. It travelled back to Karnak on the river, on the godīs ceremonial barque, which was escorted by the royal barque and the king himself. Later, after the Amarna period, the festivities covered about 27 days. 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 bages. It was the greatest Theban festival during they whole year.
The King first offered at Karnak to Amon-Re and to Mut, and promises that he will renew the godīs cult. Next the King offers incence and water before the festival boats of Amon, Mut and Khonsu, which were still resting in Karnak.
From there they were carried, in the company of the King, to the quai, where they are put on big barges, and towed and under sail, they travel to the Luxor temple (Ipet Resyt).
At Luxor, the god was greeted by high dignitaries, sacrifices were made, and there were several offering booths along the way from the river to the temple. There were also acrobats and musicians performing for the god, as well as temple personnel out to welcome him.
When the procession reached a triple shrine, it halted. Here Amun, Mut and Khonsu were brought to their respective shrines inside the temple. We donīt know all the content or the meaning of the rituals which were now performed inside the temple. It might have celebrated a sacred marriage in order to certify the ruling king as a true son of the gods. Further it constituted the renewal of the Kingīs right and power to rule, as he entered the temple. 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 and the king, plus it emphasized the bonds between the gods and the people of the land.
Sources:
The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt - Richard H. Wilkinson, Thames & Hudson, 2000
Article in Aegypten, Die Welt der Faraonen, Könemann, 1998, by Regine Schultz & Hourig Sourozian
Thanks Egypt! If you are interested in reading more about how Egypt and KMT is celebrating Opet this season, read on to the Egypt World News.
Goldfest 2006
Alright, alright! Stop your groaning. I can hear it all the way from Dilmun. (er, ancient Bahrain) I know from experience how strangling, exhausting, debilitating and other "ings" festivals can be here. I also know from experience that it would be darn hard to top some of fantastic past festivals, though we can try. But Goldfest is now our only site-wide festival since future Springfests have been removed. My first involvement in this site, and many others I've spoken to in the years since then, was in a sitewide festival. They can be a great deal of fun! Especially if we start planning and sharing ideas, responsibilities and the like now.
Heraklia has already sent out an email to AW admin suggesting we start discussion about a possible theme to help tie all our multi-faceted worlds together. I say, despite all of the bugs amock and the personal conflicts, lets step up and throw the best Goldfest this site has seen yet. It CAN be done. It's also a great way for those new to the site to get involved and really have some fun. I actually enjoy the planning and preparation the most. (stop laughing) Everyone I know that works on festivals ends up learning so much about the given topic.
The site-wide festival thread has already for Goldfest, '06 has already been set up under AncientWorlds Celebrations thread, and individual threads will be sure to pop up soon for intra-world planning, so start thinking about the first site-wide party involving all our worlds since 2004! It's time for YOU to post your thoughts and ideas. Just don't forget to have some fun, and if you want to be more intensely involved, contact your friendly local neighborhood scribe and volunteer.
