“DO NOT CELEBRATE YOUR FEAST WITHOUT YOUR NEIGHBOURS” A Study of References to Feasts and Festivals in Non-Literary Documents from Ramesside Period Deir el-Medina Heidi Jauhiainen ACADEMIC DISSERTATION To be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Helsinki, in auditorium XII (Unioninkatu 34), on the 30th of September 2009, at 12 o’clock. Publications of the Institute for Asian and African Studies 10 ISBN 978-952-10-5722-9 (paperback) ISBN 978-952-10-5723-6 (PDF) ISSN 1458-5359 Helsinki University Print Helsinki 2009 Table of Contents List of Tables................................................................................................................................ v Acknowledgements.....................................................................................................................vi I Introduction...................................................................................................................1 1 Previous Research on Feasts in Ancient Egypt...................................................................... 4 2 Various Methodological Approaches to Vernacular Religion and Feasts......................... 12 2.1 Vernacular Religion – Local Feasts ...................................................................................... 13 2.2 Functional Approach to Feasts.............................................................................................. 17 3 Primary Sources ..................................................................................................................... 20 4 The Structure and the Methods of the Research................................................................. 23 II Features of Ancient Egyptian Feasts Associated with the Official Theology ......25 1 Temple Festival Calendars .................................................................................................... 26 2 Processions During Temple Festivals ................................................................................... 28 3 Ritual Acts Featuring in Various Religious Festivals ......................................................... 34 III Feasts at Deir el-Medina..........................................................................................37 1 Deir el-Medina Festival Calendar – a Reconstruction........................................................ 38 1.1 Reconstructing the Festival Calendar of Deir el-Medina ...................................................... 39 1.1.1 The Source Material for the Festival Calendar ........................................................ 41 1.1.2 The Method of Reconstructing the Festival Calendar.............................................. 60 1.2 Feasts Featuring in the Reconstructed Deir el-Medina Festival Calendar ............................ 66 1.2.1 Eponymous Feasts and Ancient Egyptian Month Names ........................................ 67 1.2.1.1 The New Year Festival ............................................................................... 74 1.2.1.2 The Feast of Thoth...................................................................................... 85 1.2.1.3 The Opet Festival........................................................................................ 92 1.2.1.4 The Feast of Hathor .................................................................................. 104 1.2.1.5 Khoiak....................................................................................................... 112 1.2.1.6 The Feast of Mut....................................................................................... 119 1.2.1.7 Mekhir....................................................................................................... 126 1.2.1.8 The Great Feast of Amenhotep I............................................................... 131 1.2.1.9 The Feast of Renenutet ............................................................................. 141 1.2.1.10 The Beautiful Feast of the Valley ........................................................... 147 1.2.1.11 Epiphi...................................................................................................... 153 1.2.2 Feasts of Various Divinities................................................................................... 158 1.2.2.1 The Feast of Amenhotep I on I Axt 29–30................................................. 159 1.2.2.2 The Feast of Sokar .................................................................................... 162 1.2.2.3 The Feast of Ptah in III prt........................................................................ 168 1.2.2.4 The Feast of Ahmose-Nefertari ................................................................ 172 1.2.2.5 The Feast of Amenhotep I on III Smw 12–13............................................ 176 1.2.3 Feasts to Commemorate the Accession of Seti I, Ramesses II, and Ramesses III. 178 1.2.3.1 The Accession Day of Seti I ..................................................................... 179 1.2.3.2 The Accession Day of Ramesses II .......................................................... 182 1.2.3.3 The Accession Day of Ramesses III ......................................................... 185 1.2.4 Other Possible Feasts Connected to the Official Theology.................................... 187 1.2.4.1 I Axt 8 ........................................................................................................ 188 1.2.4.2 IV Axt 5 ..................................................................................................... 190 1.2.4.3 I prt 7 ........................................................................................................ 192 1.2.4.4 Msy............................................................................................................ 194 1.2.4.5 The Epagomenal Days .............................................................................. 196 1.3 Feasts and Seemingly Work-free Days Omitted from the Festival Calendar...................... 199 iii 2 Other Deir el-Medina References to Feasts and Festive Behaviour ................................ 224 2.1 The Source Material on Local and Personal Feasts............................................................. 227 2.2 Miscellaneous References to Hb and wp.............................................................................. 237 2.3 Personal Feasts .................................................................................................................... 247 2.3.1 1b=f and pAy=f Hb ................................................................................................... 248 2.3.2 Celebrations Associated with Birth........................................................................ 255 2.3.3 Other Possible References to Personal Feasts........................................................ 257 2.4 Gift-Giving .......................................................................................................................... 258 2.5 Rituals Connected with Local Feasts .................................................................................. 265 2.5.1 Processions............................................................................................................. 265 2.5.2 Offering Rituals...................................................................................................... 269 2.5.3 Ritual of Pouring Water ......................................................................................... 276 2.5.4 Drinking and Brewing Beer as Festive Actions..................................................... 280 2.5.5 1smn and Purification............................................................................................ 285 2.6 Additional Indications of Local Feasts and Feast Rituals ................................................... 287 3 Further Considerations on Feasts at Deir el-Medina........................................................ 291 3.1 Participants in the Festivities............................................................................................... 291 3.2 Possible Locations of Festivities ......................................................................................... 294 3.3 Objects and Victuals Associated with Feasts ...................................................................... 297 3.4 The Function of Deir el-Medina Feasts............................................................................... 300 IV Conclusions.............................................................................................................303 Appendix 1: References to working, inactivity, and feasts listed within the frame of a reconstructed day-by-day festival calendar.......................................307 Appendix 2: References to feasts, feast rituals, and other festive occasions..........333 Bibliography.................................................................................................................352 Bibliographical Abbreviations................................................................................................... 352 Editions, Monographs, Festschrifts, and Others........................................................................ 354 Index of Primary Sources ...........................................................................................391 iv List of Tables Table 1. The number of documents in the corpus of the festival calendar reconstruction and the number of references