Calendar Entry #11: Offerings to Hapi and Amun

We continue our journey through the Cauldrons Calendar feast/festival/holidays.

 

Offerings to Hapi

 

Hapi is the Nile god (not to be confused with Hapy/Hapi - the son of Horus).  Worshipping of Hapi occurred in both temples and on the river Nile itself.  The annual flooding of the Nile was a very important part of life both in ancient and also modern times.  When the Nile floods the floodwaters deposit nutrient-rich sediment on the plains, creating fertile soil.  The annual floods were attributed to Hapi in ancient times, and offerings of food were thrown into the river because the people knew that if the floods were insufficient then there was a risk of famine.  Prayers and offerings for Hapi were for the floods but also the other blessings the river brought like fish, lotus, papyrus.  Things that the Egyptians used in daily life. 

 

 

Follow this link to read the longest surviving hymn to the Nile flood; a literary composition in Middle Egyptian, of uncertain date.

http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/literature/floodtransl.html

 

Offerings to Amun

Amun depicted with cow offerings from
the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut

Amun rose to become one of the most important god figures in Ancient Egypt.  He was the patron god of Thebes, and when Thebes became the capital during the Eighteenth Dynasty, Amun became more nationally recognised.  

 

Offerings have been recorded as being made in the form of grain, floral arrangements as well as cows.  

 

Hatshepsut claimed the right to rule by declaring that she was the daughter of the sun god Amun.  The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut in Deir el Bahari on the west bank of the Nile near the Valley of the Kings is full of pictures of him receiving her gifts, although subsequent rulers had evidence of her removed from the temple. 

 

Calendar Entry #10: Receiving of Ra

We continue our journey through the Cauldrons Calendar feast/festival/holidays - well we would if I had found anything.

Today is slated on the calendar (and all over the interwebs) as being the day Ancient Egyptians celebrated the 'Receiving of Ra'.  Unfortunately, though I've read over 100 pages of text, visited numerous sites over the last couple of days, and consulted all the books I have here with me in Sydney (only a small portion of my personal library unfortunately) I've been unable to find anything more than what the great and powerful (lol) Wikipedia says - "The Holiday of 'The Receiving of Ra' was celebrated on May 26 in the Gregorian calendar."  Gee that's a revelation.

Now I could have gone into a This Is Your Life kind of spiel about Ra, however it wouldn't really sit well in this series of posts and I've decided to do a Gods and Goddess of the World series where I'll look at Ra and his incarnations more fully than I would for this post.

If anyone out there has any actual information about the Receiving of Ra celebration - as in, what they did, why it's called what it is, what it's celebrating, then please leave a comment.  I would really appreciate it.

Calendar Entry #9: Lag B'Omer

We continue our journey through the Cauldrons Calendar feast/festival/holidays

 

The grave of Rabbi Simeon Bar Yochai in
Meron on Lag B'Omer - Jonathan Stein

Lag BaOmer is a Jewish holiday celebrated on the thirty-third day of the Counting of the Omer.  According to the Torah (Lev. 23:15) Jews must count the days from Passover to Shavu'ot.  This period is known as the Counting of the Omer. 

 

There are two reasons to celebrate this day. 

1.  Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai lived in the second century of the common era and was the first to publicly teach the mystical dimension of the Torah known as the Kabbalah.  He was also the author of the Zohar. On the day of his passing, Rabbi Shimon instructed his disciples to mark the date as “the day of my joy."  It is a commemoration of the mystical teachings he left behind. 

2.  The Talmud states that in the weeks between the Jewish holidays of Passover and Shavu'ot, a plague killed thousands (some sources state 24,000) of students of the great sage Rabbi Akiva.  This was because "they did not act respectfully towards each other.”  On Lag BaOmer it is said that the deaths ceased and the plague was over.  Rabbi Akiva only took five students after this, one of them being Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.

Lag B'Omer is therefore a celebration of the teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and a day to remember to love and respect each other. 

Celebrations include outings, bonfires, parades as well as the first haircuts for children.  The burial place of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, in Meron, is the venue for an annual event, where hundreds of thousands of Jews gather to celebrate with bonfires, torches, singing and feasting.

Cauldrons Is On The Move!

As many of you know, Luana is now living in Sydney. I keep making jokes about her opening the Australia branch of Cauldrons, but I don't think she finds it funny. Or rather she finds it very funny and then changes the subject :)

What some of you may know, is that I'm on the move too now. My family and I are moving to North Canterbury where the ground doesn't shake with every passing car and we won't get woken up during the night by 2.8 magnitude aftershocks.

We're moving to a 14 acre lifestyle block where we can follow a dream of being mostly self-sufficient. I may blog about our successes and failures if anyone is interested. The added bonus is that I will be able to grow more of the herbs that Cauldrons offers, and continue to keep the prices reasonable. Many don't realise just how much of our herbs range is grown by me, but now, that should increase.

What The Move Means for Cauldrons

This move means that pickups and the shop will not be quite so easy. Pickups will still be welcome for those who wish to make the trip to Amberley, but I don't know if or when we'll get a shop sorted. Otherwise, everything should remain just as normal. Luana will still look after most of the internet based stuff, and I'll still be able to pack up and post or courier orders out.

There is going to be a period of about 2-3 weeks when Cauldrons will be closed. From May 21st to approximately 7th June I'm not sure if I'll have internet access, so any orders placed during this time will not be processed until after this date. I will make the date clear when I have more information myself. This will be made clear on the website, and there will be no refunds for those who still order in this period unless we are out of stock on an item. When the February Earthquake struck, I had several orders sitting on the deck waiting for courier pick up. Most were happy to wait until I got electricity (and therefore computer and email access) up and running again, but there were a few who demanded a refund, and even one who then went on to post negative feedback on Trade Me. (I guess there's always got to be one!) I don't want a repeat of this, so I want to make this clear before it happens.

I will still try to make it to the Expos and will try to keep the Coffee Meets running. I will be at the Holistic Expo on May 21st with both the stall and doing readings. Burwood Scout Hall on Travis Road in Burwood, and the $2 entry fee will be going towards the Rise Up Christchurch Telethon on the 22nd of May. We will also be carrying fundraising T-shirts that say "E tu, Kia Kaha Christchurch" printed by Blox Apparel, with proceeds going to the Earthquake fund. Come along and say hello!

Open Sabbat Celebrations

Every so often I like to hold an open Sabbat, this will most likely continue. I'm planning a great Winter Solstice for those who wish to come along. I still need to go and find out about getting a permit for a bonfire. It will mean though, that it's probably a better idea for those who come along to stay the night, and we'll make room for this. Those who are interested in joining us can email me on debbie@cauldrons.co.nz for more information.

Cauldrons PaganFest

This will still go ahead as planned. I'm having a few minor issues with the venue, but hope to have them all ironed out soon and we'll start promoting it in the near future.

Calendar Entry #8: Visakha Puja

We continue our journey through the Cauldrons Calendar feast/festival/holidays - this time we've got a Buddhist celebration.  

Statue of Buddha, Roberto Orgera

Visakha Puja or Vesakha Day is an annual Buddhist holiday also colloquially referred to as 'Buddha's Birthday'.  This day, however, isn't just a celebration of the Buddha's birth, but of a Buddhist Trinity, three important events that occurred in the life of Lord Buddha on the same day - the full moon of the sixth lunar month, typically May or June each year.  These three significant and separate events were the birth of Buddha, the day he achieved enlightenment (NIRVANA) and the day he passed away, at age eighty.

Today Buddhists will traditionally visit their temples where they will participate in activities that may include singing hymns in praise of The Buddha, The Dharma (his teachings) and The Sangha (his disciples), or listen to the Buddha's teachings by attending the reading of the Holy Scriptures ceremony or taking part in a candle lighting ceremony or procession in the evening.  Some temples may have a small statue of the baby Buddha in front of the altar, in a basin of water.  This allows devotees to pour water over the statue, a symbolic cleansing of one's bad karma.

The Buddha gave instruction on how homage was to be paid to him before he died.  It is not enough for devotees to merely leave offerings of flowers, incense and lights (to symbolise the decay that life, even the Buddha's, is subject to) when observing this day. Things die, and wither, but The Dharma is eternal.  Devotees will best pay homage by truly and sincerely striving to follow his teachings, using this day to reaffirm their determination in leading noble lives and practising loving kindness that will bring peace and harmony to humanity.  

Calendar Entry #7: Feast of Goddesses

We continue our journey through the Cauldrons Calendar feast/festival/holidays - here we have another Ancient Egyptian based celebration. 

Naos, Isis Temple, Philae Island, Egypt - Rémih

The Feast of Goddesses is also known as the Feast of the Netjerts (Goddesses) in Their Temples. A heightened energy goddess day this celebrates every aspect of the feminine in reverence and gratitude.  While I haven't found anything specific about what you did on this day, I would guess it may have been something to do with the Netjerts feasting in their own temples... at a quick guess. <:-)

There were daily rituals held in the temples where the Netjer(t)s were fed and attended to.  This was done in an inner sanctuary or naos of the temple.  While the temple workers prepared the food, it was a purified Pharaoh or High Priest who opened the naos and tended to the Netjer(t).

The food that was served before the Netjer(t) was taken away when the Netjer(t) was thought to have satisfied himself/herself, which (s)he did not consume in a material sense of the word, but on an esoteric level.  It was believed that the Netjer(t) consumed only the spiritual essence of the meal, which allowed the food to be distributed to others, passing first to the other statues in the temple, then to local funerary chapels for the sustenance of the dead, and finally to the priests to physically eat.  This was called the reversion of offerings.

When there was a festival or feast, these daily rituals were set aside for the other festival observances.  Though many of the festival's interactions with the Netjer(t) were carried out by the priests alone, the food at a feast would have been much more substantial than for daily ritual and it is likely that rather than just dividing the food amongst the priests, the other festival attendees would probably have participated in the reversion of offerings. 

Calendar Entry #6: Festivals of Hathor and Bast

We continue our journey through the Cauldrons Calendar feast/festival/holidays.

Festival of Hathor - Beautiful Feast of the Desert Valley

Hathor, as the Mistress of the West, emerges
from a hill representing the Theban necropolis.

By all references that I've found this festival is most probably referring to the Beautiful Feast of the Desert Valley, of which Het-Hert (Hathor) played a major role.  It was observed during the third season of Shemu (sometimes written as Shomu). On our modern calendar, that would occur sometime in mid-May. This festival, also known as heb nefer en inet was an annual festival in Thebes that dates back at least as far as the Middle Kingdom (a period in the history of ancient Egypt stretching from the start of the Eleventh Dynasty to the end of the Fourteenth Dynasty, between 2055 BC and 1650 BC). 

This was essentially a festival of the dead, and was held in the desert to the west of Thebes, an area sacred to Het-Hert in her funerary role of Lady of the West.  During the festival, which lasted several days, a statue of Amun (Amun-Ra in later times) was carried, from Karnak temple,  in a grand procession across the Nile River from east to west to visit mortuary temples on the opposite bank.  This journey was symbolic;  Amun-Ra, through his oracle statue, traveled to the west to pay his respects to the Akhu, the blessed dead.

Limestone relief of the Beautiful Feast of the Valley,
found within the enclosure of the Temple of Het-Hert at Deir el Medina

The Beautiful Feast of the Valley was a joyous celebration of death, similar to Dia de los Muertes in Mexico, although one source suggests that it would have had more of a Mardi Gras feel to it, in which banqueting, dancing and other festivities at the necropolis sought to bring joy to all the dead interred there.  During this festival Het-Hert was constantly present, being the patroness of the festivities.  The deceased were presented with items attributed to Het-Hert - the sistrum and Hathor's necklace.  Many graves have been found containing offerings to her.

The Ancient Egyptian word 'nfr' (transliterated to nefer) means not only beautiful but has also connotations of wholeness, vitality and perfection. There are prayers carved in the Temple of Het-Hert at Dendera, made during festival times where people address the goddess asking for bodily health and vitality. 

Festival of Bast

The cat goddess Bast – Ancient Egyptian
sculpture in Louvre museum

This was also a day to celebrate the Festival of Bast.  However, there are some sources who quote that it is the festival of Hathor and Bast.  Unfortunately, the information regarding a joint festival seems to be the same copied and reproduced on the many websites around.  No books or other sources, that I have been able to access, have confirmed that there was a joint festival.  Most sources say that on this day are the festivals of Hathor and Bast - plural, indicating that they are separate.  This is how I am going to treat them.  

The festivals of Bast were some of the most popular in Egypt, because of the music, dancing and wine.  Men and women sailed together along the Nile, singing, clapping, shaking rattles and playing flutes.  As they passed people or towns, everyone would start to sing and cheer together.  In Bubastis the festival began with sacrifices to Bast.  The Temple of Bast stood in the centre of town so all could see it.  Worshippers came from all over Egypt leaving offerings, bronze statues, amulets and mummified cats in her temple - thousands of cat remains have been found in underground crypts where the temple once stood.