The Beautiful Festival of the Valley (

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

: ''heb nefer en inet''; ar, عيد الوادي الجميل, Eid al-Wadi al-Jamil) was an ancient Egyptian festival, celebrated annually in Thebes (

Luxor Luxor ( ar, الأقصر, al-ʾuqṣur, lit=the palaces) is a modern city in Upper (southern) Egypt which includes the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of ''Thebes''. Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-a ...

), during the Middle Kingdom period and later. The sacred barques of the wind deity

Amun-Re Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...

, his consort

Mut Mut, also known as Maut and Mout, was a mother goddess worshipped in ancient Egypt and the Kingdom of Kush in present-day North Sudan. In Meroitic, her name was pronounced mata): 𐦨𐦴. Her name means ''mother'' in the ancient Egyptian la ...

and son

Khonsu Khonsu ( egy, ḫnsw; also transliterated Chonsu, Khensu, Khons, Chons or Khonshu; cop, Ϣⲟⲛⲥ, Shons) is the ancient Egyptian god of the Moon. His name means "traveller", and this may relate to the perceived nightly travel of the Moon a ...

left the temple at

Karnak The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (, which was originally derived from ar, خورنق ''Khurnaq'' "fortified village"), comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construct ...

in order to visit the funerary temples of deceased royalty on the West Bank and their shrines in the

Theban Necropolis The Theban Necropolis is a necropolis on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes (Luxor) in Upper Egypt. It was used for ritual burials for much of the Pharaonic period, especially during the New Kingdom. Mortuary temples * Deir el-Bahri ...

Celebration

The Beautiful Festival of the Valley, or ''heb nefer en inet'' in Egyptian, was a celebration of the dead. It could be more ancient than the

Opet Festival The Opet Festival (the Beautiful Festival of Opet/Opeth/''heb nefer en Ipet'') was an annual Ancient Egyptian Festival celebrated in Thebes (Luxor), especially in the New Kingdom and later periods, during the second month of the season of Akhet ...

as it can be traced back to the Middle Kingdom. It was said to be held as a remembrance of the dead, from the beginning of the Middle Kingdom. However, when joined with the Festival of Opet, the holy procession became the main event of the liturgical calendar of Thebes. The annual festival was held at the New Moon of Month Two. This was the summer season,

shemu The Season of the Harvest or Low Water was the third and final season of the lunar and civil Egyptian calendars. It fell after the Season of the Emergence (') and before the spiritually dangerous intercalary month ('), after which the New Year' ...

, and the 10th month in a calendar of 12. During

Hatshepsut Hatshepsut (; also Hatchepsut; Egyptian: '' ḥꜣt- špswt'' "Foremost of Noble Ladies"; or Hatasu c. 1507–1458 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. She was the second historically confirmed female pharaoh, aft ...

's reign she carried out both the Opet and The Beautiful Festival of the Valley to Amun. There was a grand procession at the start of the festival which could go for several days. It was a colourful and joyous occasion for the people of Thebes. The procession would be led by

Amun Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...

, from the East (rising sun, new life, the direction of the living) to the West (setting sun, land of the dead.) A statue or picture of Amun, decorated with a broad collar and sun disk, would be led by priests down the Nile in a ceremonial boat or

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts having the fore- and mainmasts Square rig, rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) Fore-and-aft rig, rigged fore and aft. Som ...

. This barque would then be placed in a ship known as the ''Userhet'' that was covered in gold and precious materials. This ''Userhet'' would be followed by boats for Mut and Khonsu to form the

Theban Triad The Theban Triad is a triad of Egyptian gods most popular in the area of Thebes, Egypt. The triad The group consisted of Amun, his consort Mut and their son Khonsu. They were favored by both the 18th and 25th Dynasty. At the vast Karnak Temple ...

. The procession proceeded to the ''Temple of Million Years of the King'' where the townspeople would sacrifice food and drink as well as flowers to the flotilla of boats. Great quantities of flowers would be presented, as it is believed by the Egyptian culture that the flowers became filled with the essence of the deity. Townspeople then took these flowers to their relatives' tombs to pay their respects and ensure the revival of the deceased's spirit. They would drink and sleep on the deceased's tombs as different levels of consciousness blessed the dead and brought them closer to god. Amun's shrine was brought into the ''Djoser-djoseru'' to reaffirm the bond between the king of the gods and the king of the people.

References

* Davies, V. & Friedman R. Egypt, British Museum Press, 1998 * Strudwick N & Strudwick K. Thebes in Egypt, Cornell University Press, 1999 {{Theban Necropolis Navigator Festivals in ancient Egypt