Five Intercalary Days Prior To Egyptian New Year or Sirius’s Heliacal Rising

With Sirius’s heliacal rising over in lower latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere and its date approaching in the higher ones, it’s still not too late for some people who plan to celebrate the star goddess’s rising to include the epagomenal days in their rituals. In Ancient Egypt, the Egyptian civil calendar had 360 days. Each year, a month of five intercalary days was added to the end of the year. As the beginning of a new year coincided with Sirius’s heliacal rising, this took place in July.  In this brief article, I will explore the intercalary days as a tradition, the concept from my own point of view, and how I will observe them in 2022.

The Tradition

There is a good amount of information relating how the intercalary days were celebrated. According to the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom, the intercalary days were the birthdays of unspecified ancient Egyptian gods. In the Middle Kingdom, they were codified into a system.¹ Later, they were part of Plutarch’s work Isis and Osiris. The intercalary days followed the last month of Mesore. They were called Days Upon the Year or Heriu Ronpet.² The gods whose birthdays occurred at the time were Osiris, Horus the Elder, Seth, Isis,  and Nephthys.  It was believed that since it was the end of the year, it was a dangerous time. People were warned to be careful and extra cautious on these days. To add to the chaos it was thought that agents of the goddess Sekhmet were sent to the world to annihilate humankind on these days. The idea that the end of certain times such as the sunset, new moon, and new year was dangerous was common to ancient Egyptian culture. The intercalary days were even called “nefarious” in one ancient text.³ There are stories of the pharaoh doing rituals to appease Sekhmet and save humanity. Other sources claim that the rituals done for Sekhmet would avert natural disasters, crop failures, and the like. Seth’s day in particular had bad luck, and some people wouldn’t do business on that day. Generally, ancient Egyptian people wore apotropaic charms and took a rest during these periods. The days were also treated like semi-festivals. They were not festivals, strictly speaking, but had elements of them like religious observance and rituals. Usually, there were a number of festivals celebrated during the year, and for many ancient Egyptians the festivals were the only time they could see the statues of the gods. Temples usually forbid the public from looking at the statues of the deities. During festivals, the statues of the gods were carried in processions. Festivals were also a time of communal religious activity, which differed from the day-to-day religious practice of most people.⁴ Therefore, while we have some idea as to how the intercalary days were celebrated, the ancient Egyptians usually wrote few details about them and so the picture is incomplete. 

Intercalary Days as a Concept

Because the rest of the year is considered to be part of a unit of 12 lunar months, the intercalary days stand out as atypical. While the calendar year is regular and systematized, the epagomenal days are distinctive, liminal, fantastical, and exceptional. The entire reason for the intercalary days is due to the fact that they don’t fit the time unit of a month. Symbolically, the days are outside of time. As a result, the intercalary days were transcendent and timeless. I believe that the intercalary days should be the focus of a great deal of thought. How should days that are symbolically outside of time be lived? When we put aside all of our routines and structures, what should prevail? How should a gods birthday be celebrated, especially when it’s done outside the calendar? If we dedicate an entire day to a deity, how can we truly celebrate that deity? These are some of the questions that may arise from pondering the intercalary days. In my mind, the entire concept is worthy of exploration. And if an individual’s personal practice is syncretistic and not literalist, they can make their own intercalary tradition and explore the concept in unique and creative ways.

A Traditional vs. Syncretistic Reconstructed Ritual Observance

There are two possible approaches to observing and celebrating the intercalary days. The traditional approach would consist of daily rituals to each of the five deities Osiris, Elder Horus, Set, Isis, and Nephthys for their birthdays, as well as Sekhmet. It would consist of Iru (meaning “things done”), or an Egyptian basic rite that is often used in daily worship.⁵ To celebrate the birthdays of gods, the rituals can be longer, more elaborate, be held two or three times a day instead of once a day, and include other special elements for the designated gods. Beyond rituals, the ritual practitioner would be very cautious of dangers. It would be important to avoid risky situations. A person would wear protective amulets or use other apotropaic methods for protection against evil.  They also would make an effort to get plenty of rest during this period.  This would be an approach firmly rooted in the extant historical tradition. On the other hand, a syncretistic approach would give the ritual practitioner a lot more autonomy. First, there would be the choice of which gods to honor and worship. For this year’s intercalary days, I chose Ptah, Osiris, Isis, the Ogdoad, and Amun-Ra. Next, there could be a lot more elements added to the gods worship. I decided upon prayers three times a day, an exercise of mindfulness for the deity for one minute of every hour, and a meditation on the deity for three minutes. In addition, I added one act of eating food and one drink for the god in a ritual or non-ritual setting. Other acts I contemplated were a seven minute meditation on chastity during an Isis ritual, fifteen minutes of exercise for a Ptah ritual, and a lengthy meditation for Osiris. Making special offerings can also be done. For example, being kind to an old man for Osiris, being kind to a child for Isis, or promising to avoid alcohol, meat, tea, or any other specific food or drink for the day as part of your offering to the deity. Doing a syncretistic ritual can give one many options. A person can synthesize numerous pieces of ancient literature and draw upon the imagination to construct a set of personal intercalary rituals that are non-traditional yet founded in traditional practice. 

Once the intercalary days are over, Sirius’s heliacal rising will be celebrated in the early morning hours. Besides celebrating each deity’s birthday, one should also worship the goddess Sekhmet, especially on the last day, also the goddess Nephthys’s day. Then, on the day of the heliacal rising, one should wake up early to observe the rising in the sky if possible. The ritual can be done around that time or later that day. With the most important day coming last, and the necessity of making Sekhmet a major focus on that day, and then the early rise on the next day to see Sirius escape the sun’s beams, the the final period of the intercalary days is a big time commitment. The last part is certain to keep a person occupied. 

Resources for intercalary rituals can be found on the internet and in books. For Sirius’s heliacal rising, one can look at Sky and Telescope’s article “A Real Scorcher: Sirius’s Heliacal Rising,” if one doesn’t have access to software. For hymns to Egyptian deities, the website Gods of Sand and Water has a big collection of hymns for the Egyptian gods. To understand the process of a traditional ancient Egyptian ritual, recent books written by the Kemetic Sharon LaBorde are a great place to start. They include Following the Sun: A Practical Guide to Egyptian  Religion, Circle of the Sun: Rites and Celebrations for Egyptian Pagans and Kemetics, and  Celebrating the Egyptian Gods. Readers can also visit her Youtube channel, Kemetic Independent. The website Amentet Neferet is another excellent resource. To be able to figure out a syncretistic ritual, there are numerous sources for astrological magic, Hellenic religion, Roman religion. There are also many works that can be consulted, such as the Greek Magical Papyri, the Picatrix, as well as many academic translations of historical works from Late Antiquity and prior. On the Internet, Neos Alexandria has syncretistic rituals in an Alexandrian context. So, there are a number of resources available for creating an intercalary ritual prior to Sirius’s heliacal rising.

 

Related articles:

Sirius Heliacal Rising 

Sirius Heliacal Rising Ritual Script

 

Notes

1. LaBorde, Sharon, “Following the Sun: A Practical Guide to Egyptian Religion,” (2010), 875.
2. Spalinger, Anthony, “Some Remarks on the Epagomenal Days in Ancient Egypt,” (Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 54, No. 1, January 1995) 33-47.
3. Spalinger, “Some Remarks on the Epagomenal Days in Ancient Egypt,” 33-47.
4. Bunson, Margaret, “The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt,” (Gramercy Books, 1991), 90.
5. See LaBorde’s description of a general ritual in daily worship in a sacred space. LaBorde, “Following the Sun.” 876.

 

Bibliography

1. LaBorde, Sharon, “Following the Sun: A Practical Guide to Egyptian Religion,” (2010), 875.
2. Spalinger, Anthony, “Some Remarks on the Epagomenal Days in Ancient Egypt,” (Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 54, No. 1, January 1995) 33-47.
3. Bunson, Margaret, “The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt,” Gramercy Books, 1991.

 

Photo Credits

1. The Libyan desert in North Africa. Photo by Luca Galuzzi.
2. Granite Sekhmet statue from the temple of Mut, New Kingdom. Photo by Macleod.