Opet Festival

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Every year, the ancient Egyptians eagerly anticipated the coming of Akhet, the flooding season. The inundation was vital for agriculture because the Nile’s floodwaters replenished the land with fertile alluvial soil. On the 19th day of the second month of Akhet, ancient Egypt held one of its most spectacular and most mysterious festivals for the time of joyous renewal: The Feast of Opet. (See Akhet and Ancient Egyptian Calendar)

Opet’s formal name is ‘heb nefer en Ipet’, which translates to ‘beautiful feast of Opet’. The word ‘opet’ or ‘ipet’ is believed to have referred to the inner sanctuary of the Temple of Luxor. This festive event was so important that the second month of Akhet (when the feast typically occurred) was named after it: ‘pa-en-ipet’, the month of Opet.

 

The ancient Egyptians celebrated the Opet Festival in Thebes for 24 days, and it started with the most spectacular part, the grand procession from Karnak to Luxor. In these parades, statues of the city’s protective triad - Amun-Re (supreme god), Mut (his wife), and his son, Khons - were placed in unique vessels called barks and carried from one temple to the other. The people rejoiced in the appearance of their gods during the process. The statues stayed in the Luxor temple for about 24 days, and during this time, the city celebrated the Opet Festival. Then, the images were returned by the same route to their shrines in Karnak in a second public appearance that closed the feast. 

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Osiris / Usir

 

Osiris was the Egyptian’ Lord of the Underworld’ and ‘Judge of the Dead’. He was one of the most important gods of ancient Egypt and the brother/husband of Isis. The ancient Egyptian name of this god was ‘Usir’, and during the Greco-Roman period (c. 332 BC -395 AD), it changed to ‘Osiris’, the Latinized version of the god’s name.

Osiris (‘Usir’) means the ‘powerful’ or ‘mighty’. He is the first son of Geb (god of earth) and Nut (goddess of the sky). His younger brother Set murdered him, but his sister/wife Isis brought him back to life. 

As a living god, we can see Osiris as a man wearing a royal dress. He has a plumed headdress known as the ‘atef’ (the crown of Upper Egypt) and carries the crook and flail, the symbols of kingship. In addition, he was associated with the mythical ‘Bennu’ bird (which later was the inspiration for the Greek Phoenix), who died every day but was reborn from its ashes. 

Osiris was originally a fertility god but was also known as ‘The Lord of Love’, ‘King of the Living’, and ‘Eternal Lord’. After Isis, Osiris was the most popular and longest-lasting of all the Egyptian gods.