How the Ancient Egyptians Celebrated the New Year
As we wrap up another year, another rotation around the sun, we get to celebrate all that has passed and all that we hope for in the future. For many of us, the New Year is a time of rebirth and regeneration, a sentiment shared by the ancient Egyptians and by cultures around the world until today. Celebration of the New Year was deeply important to our ancient counterparts, closely tied to the annual floods of the Nile and the Egyptians’ agricultural cycle. But how did they actually celebrate?
Each year, they would look up to the sky in anticipation of the appearance of Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, and the signal that the annual flood was about to commence. Unsurprisingly, the ancient Egyptian solar calendar, also spanning 365 days, was all about farming. The calendar is divided into three seasons, each four months and each month thirty days, with an extra ‘short month’ of five days to complete the year.
Akhet, the first season, begins with the month of Thoth, named after the scribe god of knowledge who they believed created the calendar. It’s also known as the Season of the Inundation and this is when we have the flooding of the Nile. The second season, Peret, is the Season of Emergence, marking the time when the fields are flourishing with fertility and crops are beginning to appear. The final season, Shemu, is the Season of the Harvest, and exactly as its name suggests, this is when the Egyptians finally reap the rewards of the year and celebrate their bounty.
After a 70-day absence, Sirius reappears once more in the night sky and the ancient Egyptian New Year’s celebrations can commence. The festival’s ancient name, Wepet Renpet, means “opening of the year”, an apt name to be sure. They too would celebrate by drinking and feasting, but unlike us, their festivities would go on for several days.
Rituals honoring the myth of Osiris would also be performed, paying tribute both to his death and to his rebirth, a story that is very much at the heart of the Egyptian belief system and one that mirrors that cycle of death and rebirth that came with the flooding and recession of the Nile.
The Egyptians also celebrated another important myth during the first month of the year, during the Festival of Drunkenness, this time in honor of the lion-headed goddess of war, Sekhmet. Legend has it that one day, Ra, the all-powerful sun god, was tired of mankind’s misbehavior and decided to send Sekhmet, his fierce and bloodthirsty daughter, down to punish them. But the goddess’ thirst for blood was too strong, and it soon became clear that she was at risk of wiping out all of humanity!
Ra, seeing that she was out of control, decided to trick her. He ordered Tenenet, the goddess of beer, to dye as much beer as possible a deep red, the color of blood, in order to entice Sekhmet and hopefully subdue her. Thankfully, their plan worked. Sekhmet drank and drank until she fell asleep, ending her massacre at last. She finally wakes up in the form of Hathor, a gentle and kind goddess and Sekhmet’s benevolent counterpart. And so each year, along with the Festival of the Opening of the Year, the Egyptians celebrate the salvation of mankind with a large feast, and of course, copious amounts of beer!
Several thousand years later and mankind still celebrates the cycle of death and rebirth; out with the old and in with the new. Even the ancient Egyptian calendar is still in use. A reformed version is used by the Coptic Church of Egypt until today, and farmers throughout the country still follow the three seasons of the ancients, even though the Nile no longer floods as it once did.
It’s a beautiful thing to see ancient rituals and traditions carrying on, passed down from one generation to another, from one culture to another. It’s a beautiful thing to know that despite our differences, we still share so much. And with that wonderful notion, we would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year, filled with all the bounty and beauty our ancestors celebrated each year. Let us all welcome in another cycle together, and carry this tradition into the future with us.
Happy New Year!