The Festival of the Beautiful Embrace - Hathor's journey & mystical ceremonial marriage celebrations to her husband Horus

 All temples survived on the produce of the land, and the produce of the harvest Festival at Dendera Temple proceeded the most spectacular festival that was known as the' Festival of The Beautiful Embrace' where once a year after the harvest, the Goddess Hathor’s barque was loaded with the produce of the fields in preparation for the annual visit she made to see her Husband the God Horus at his earthly home the Temple Of Edfu where they would re-enact in a mystical ceremony their marriage, and the conception of their son Ihy

At Hathor's earthly home of Dendera Temple I followed the side wall all the way around the temple where my enthusiasm increased as the relief’s were untouched, beautiful and unspoilt once more, and they portrayed the harvest festival, where  the beautiful goddess Sekhet, the goddess of the fields brings the produce of the land to the temple, she walked through the fields of wheat Papyrus and lotus, small geese fly from the ground whilst she follows a calf, her breath has the  scent of flowers and she is adorned with Lotus blossoms, and in her arms she carries Lotus geese fruits and wine.  

 In splendid celebration Hathor whose name means “The House of Horus”, was carried from her sanctuary within Dendera and greeted by all important dignitaries and priests, the locals were allowed to join this celebration,  then   gently her splendid barque that was known as ‘Great of Love’ carried her upstream where she was joined by a flotilla of barques until she arrived at Karnack Temple, where she would stay for a few days to visit the Goddess Mut, the wife of Amun Ra, more barques joined her flotilla as she left Karnack to continue her journey south, Her Husband Horus would leave his temple and head downstream to greet her and in glorious celebration he would escort his wife to his home of Edfu Temple to  begin  fourteen days of joyous celebration where their sacred marriage was enacted once more and their son Ihy was conceived. Each day throughout the waxing moon the same set of ceremonies were carefully performed. It was felt that on the evening of the fourth day Ihy, the son of Horus and Hathor, was conceived .

Over the centuries, the temple of Horus at Edfu became buried to a depth of 12 metres (39 ft) beneath drifting desert sand and layers of river silt deposited by the Nile, and just like the Temple of Dendera Local inhabitants built homes directly over the former temple grounds. the temples of Dendera and Edfu were built during the Ptolemaic period, the successors of Alexander the Great.

Only the upper reaches of the temple pylons at Edfu and Dendera were were visible. In 1860 Auguste Mariette, a French Egyptologist, began the work of freeing Edfu temple from the sands.

Hathor has 411 epithets expressing her qualities and attributes mentioned at her temple in Dendera, some of them are also written on the walls of Edfu temple, The wall relief of the pylon at Edfu describes her as: 

'Hathor, the great one, lady of Dendera, eye of Re, who residence in Edfu, lady of the sky, mistress of all the gods, the Uraeu which is upon the head of Atum, who created her place upon his head, the great cow of heaven, who born Re, the first one of the Ogadoad, Rennet, the noble one in Egypt, the Uraeus to all gods, lady of charm, sweetness of love, all men and women behind her, lady of protection in the bark of millions, who protects the bow in the bark of god, beautiful of hands, who carry the sistrum to appease who hide his name, great of magic, lady of upper Egypt house, who says spells with her name, brighten of eye-brows, sweetness of love'

On the day of the full moon the festivities ended and Hathor bid Horus farewell and began her return journey to her own temple once more, where on her return announced the long awaited flooding of the River Nile

Hathor was a sky goddess, known as “Lady of Stars” and “Sovereign of Stars” and together with the goddess Isis was linked to Sirius in the heavens, once Sirius rose the Nile would flood, astronomer-priests noted that Sirius rose with the Sun just prior to the annual flooding of the Nile which was known as the “Tears of Isis”  which hopefully flooded large areas, feeding the land with the rich nutrients that made the valley fertile. Over the centuries, the seasonal floods have been the lifeblood of the Egyptian civilization, and their failure could bring pestilence & famine due to crop failure.

I would like to thank my friend Mohamed A Fahmy, who is a very spiritual tour guide, for his knowledge on the titles of the Goddess Hathor and the image of Hathors Barque. You can contact Mohamed on Facebook

DISCOVERING CLEOPATRA at DENDERA TEMPLE

At Dendera Temple I would walk on the same ground that probably the most famous of all queens, Cleopatra herself had walked in, and  made offerings to the Goddess Hathor the beautiful one, goddess of love, motherhood and female sexuality, the goddess of the cycles of life and fertility, a goddess whose priestesses were trained in the sacred tantric arts of adornment and lovemaking, one of the keys I think that would unlock Cleopatra’s mystical influence and charm.

Through the centuries of time some people are just born to live a simple life, while others are born to be great, the great don’t just live inside the pages of history, they make it happen, and like a human cyclone or turbulent whirl wind they inflame their surroundings and light a burning torch of life becoming a light in the darkness and centuries of history. Even when their whirlwind dies, it doesn’t really matter because they truly lived life to the full for that one moment in time, and the cyclone they created is acknowledged for all time. Cleopatra V1 was one of these people, she came to the throne at the age of seventeen with her younger brother Ptolemy X11 and like Hatshepsut centuries before her she wanted to rule alone. Although of Greek origin Cleopatra learnt the Egyptian language and like a lioness she took Egypt as the cub to her breast and fearlessly protected her heritage. Cleopatra like Hatshepsut was a very determined woman, at 22 she was delivered at the feet of Julius Caesar wrapped in an oriental rug, she desperately needed his help to end the struggle for power between herself and her younger brother Ptolemy X11, with the arrival of Roman re-enforcements her brothers army was crushed in a sea battle at Alexandria and the young king was drowned. Cleopatra and Julius Caesar became lovers and she bore him a son Caesarion, she now had ultimate power of Egypt, with the protection of Julius Caesar, who was Rome in the eyes of Cleopatra, sadly her misconception of Roman culture, and their dislike of her usurping Caesar’s roman wife would eventually lead to her downfall. In all of Egypt this is the only temple that shows a relief of Cleopatra with her son, they are shown on the rear wall of the temple in union with the goddess Hathor and her son Ihy, at the opposite end. Across from their image is a small chapel created for the Goddess Isis by Augustus, the Roman Emperor who would have taken Cleopatra in chains to Rome unless she had chosen to die with the deadly bite of a snake, and on her death he pursued her son Caesarian who was then betrayed into his hands and was murdered.

Of all the temples in Egypt Dendera Temple would have been the most important temple for Cleopatra, as a mother she would have come to Dendera to ask the Goddess Hathor for her love help and protection, during the pregnancy and birth of her son Ceasarion by Julius Caesar, and he was represented on the temple wall at Dendera alongside her as sharing her rule. After her death, The Roman emperor Augustus lured Caesarion back to Rome with promises of power, only to have him killed. Mark Anthony was the father of her other children - Ptolemy Philadelphus and the twins, Cleopatra Selene and Alexander Helios.

This temple was a place of pilgrimage where divine healing and magical cures took place in the sanatorium, and wondrous festivals were celebrated in the astrological cycles that are vividly painted in turquoise and gold on the ceilings that celebrated the birth of Horus and the union of Horus to the Goddess Hathor

Hatshepsut’s name had reached as far as the circuit of heaven and encompassed the great circle (the sea)

Hatshepsut's Trading Expedition to the Land of Punt

Hatshepsut had a peaceful reign, she concentrated on trade rather than conquest, the walls of her temple shows her famous trading expedition to the Land of Punt, now known as Somalia. To indicate their willingness to submit to an Egyptian sovereign the people of Punt showered the Egyptians with gifts for Hatshepsut. Their gifts included gold and ivory, great heaps of precious balsams and incense for the temples, animals plants and trees for transplantation on the Egyptian soil,  this is recorded on the punt colonnade, where small African houses are shown standing on wooden stilts, beautiful tropical birds are carved flying across the sky and lots of varieties of fish are recorded

Hatshepsut’s name had reached as far as the circuit of heaven and encompassed the great circle (the sea) the best of myrrh was upon her limbs and her fragrance was of divine dew, whilst her odour was mingled with the land of Punt. Her skin was gilded with electrum that shone like the stars at night

Foreign lands were regarded as the personal property of The Goddess Hathor, and the goods that the Egyptians obtained from these countries were considered to be gifts from Hathor, so the return to Thebes with all the treasures from Punt would have been the cause for great celebrations. Now that her reign was strengthened and successful, Hatshepsut made plans with her architect Senemut to build herself a Mortuary Temple fit for a King, and so her unusual three storied columned temple rose up the side of the Theban Mountains of El Dier El Bahari. When looking at a map I realized that the temple with its entrance ramps is in direct line with Karnack Temple the House of Amun on the East Bank, Sheshat the Goddess of the Cosmos guided the priests with her skills of the stars and heavens, the temple is also aligned to the winter solstice sunrise, which in our modern era occurs around the 21st or 22nd of December each year.

Originally Myrrh trees lined the entrance ramps and its lower terrace up into the temple; these were the trees that had been sent from the expedition to punt and are shown being transported in large baskets on the reliefs in the temple.

Ancient Egyptian Festivals

The New Year - The Opet Festival - The Beautiful Feast of the Valley - Harvest Festival -The Festival of the Beautiful Embrace


Ancient Egyptians held many various festivals celebrating the Gods, and the rejuvenation of the Kingship, I have explained a few of these festivals that were  held at Karnack, Luxor The Mortuary Temples on the Westbank of Luxor and Dendera and Edfu Temples. These festivals celebrated the Egyptian New Year when the River Nile flooded, the Harvest Festival, the Opet Festival, the Festival of the Beautiful Embrace.



Luxor temple is not the home of a God, or a Mortuary Temple, it was created  to celebrate a very important festival between the Temples of Karnack and Luxor, this festival was known as The Opet Festival, when the king walked the one and a half miles down the avenue of sphinx that connected the two temples, he was followed by his priests carrying the holy barques of the God Amun, his wife Mut,  and their son Khonsu. Ancient Egyptians lined the route to celebrate with the King his Re-birth, and  the Rejuvenation of Egypt with the flooding of the River Nile.

 Once the holy Barques arrived at Luxor Temple they would hold 14 days of celebrations to celebrate the marriage of Amun to Mut During the symbolic celebrations the King and Egypt were reborn every year. Even today the Egyptians celebrate the Opet festival they all come out into the streets to celebrate and they carry small boats that they have made out of paper and cardboard.

On the walls of Luxor Temple we can see priests bringing bread, and  driving cattle to be slaughtered for the feast. Dancers are shown on the walls behind the columns that join the Festival Hall of Amenhotep 111 to the first courtyard of Ramses the Great.

During the celebrations the king would disappear from the festival and re-emerge seven days later from the birth room, so when I think of Luxor temple I imagine it as a living womb, and when it was time for the birth, the festival and ceremony of the birth was re-enacted with joyous celebrations.

The oldest records for the Opet Festival are recorded on the walls of Hatshepsut's Red Chapel that can now be found in the Open Air Museum in the grounds of Karnack Temple. On the walls the Holy Barque is shown being carried by priests from Karnack Temple down the avenue of sphinx to Luxor Temple to celebrate The Feast of the Opet,



The walls of the Red Barque Chapel also record the Beautiful Feast of the Valley   

This was a festival of the dead and remembrance, where the God Amun was taken from his shrine in Karnack Temple  and put into his holy barque travelling from the East bank which is the side of the rising sun, he journeys across the River Nile to the West bank, the side of the setting sun, the domain of Osiris and the Mortuary Temples of the departed kings. The flotilla of boats that joined Amun on his journey carried  vast quantities of flowers whose perfume were believed to hold the essence of the Gods, on a the walls of the mortuary temples and in the tombs, the Kings are often shown offering the Gods flowers.  During the celebrations of the Beautiful Feast of the Valley Amun's priests delivered flowers to all the Mortuary temples, that were used to hold celebrations during the kings lifetime, and where the priests presented the Ka statue of a deceased king with offerings to satisfy his needs. During the Beautiful Feast of the Valley Egyptians visited the graves of their relations to leave flowers and to pay their respects and revive the deceased's spirit.


Celebrations and Festivals held at Dendera Temple

In the gloomy light as I climbed the staircase onto the roof of Dendera Temple, I had a strange feeling that I wasn’t alone , a square shaft of light enhanced the wall and I then saw at the side of me on each step continuing up the stairs in  raised relief was a priest.  I stopped in wonder for a few minutes to look at the procession of priests as they continued up the stairs, the lighting was so subdued I  could not safely continue to walk up the steps and look at the same time, gently I touched the relief as would a blind man to hold  a vision in my mind, the higher I climbed the more I experienced feelings of elation, the  relief’s portrayed the
New Year Celebration and some of the priests wore strange masks and carried offerings and  the shrine of Hathor up the staircase towards the roof to await a very special dawn, as the procession walked up this staircase the priests would have chanted prayers for Hathor. I arrived on the rooftop to blinding light and  I adjusted my eyes, and then I walked over to the small chapel in the corner, this was where the priests placed Hathor statue in the final hours before the dawn to wait for the star Sothis that would rise once a year with the dawn, on one of the most important days of the Ancient Egyptian Calendar. For seventy days Sirius, one of the brightest stars would not have been seen, it was the symbol of the goddess Isis in the heavens, on the first dawn after the seventieth day she rises again with the sun and remains visible for just a few moments, this special moment marks the beginning of the Ancient Egyptian New year, and it also marked the beginning of the annual flood of the River Nile.  At the end of this day after the Goddess Hathor had bathed in the rays of the sun for her renewal, at the setting of the Sun Hathor was then delivered safely back to her sanctuary within the temple..

The Egyptian New Year Festival - The Harvest Festival & The Festival of the Beautiful Embrace celebrations held at Dendera Temple

Coming out into the brightness of the daylight from Dendera Temple onto the temple roof I adjusted my eyes and then I walked over to the small chapel in the corner, with 12 Hathor-headed columns known as the ‘chapel of the disc’. Here the statue of the goddess was brought out on New Year’s morning to be reunited with the sun’s first rays, the solar disc the priests placed the shrine of Hathor in the final hours before the dawn to wait for the star Sothis that would rise once a year with the dawn, on one of the most important days of the Ancient Egyptian Calendar. For seventy days Sirius, one of the brightest stars would not have been seen, it was the symbol of the goddess Isis in the heavens, on the first dawn after the seventieth day she rises again with the sun and remains visible for just a few moments, this special moment marks the beginning of the Ancient Egyptian New Year, and it also marked the beginning of the annual flood of the River Nile.  Hathor bathes in the Radiance of the Sun all day in the Chapel of the Disc, and at the end of this day on the setting of the sun, she was then taken across the roof to the opposite staircase and delivered safely back down the staircase to her sanctuary within the temple

On the exterior walls of Dendera Temple we can see the Gods bringing the fruit, vegetables, wine and livestock to the temple to celebrate the harvest, luckily these reliefs are unspoilt and I recognized the Goddess of the Fields, the beautiful goddess Sekhet, she brings the produce of the land to the temple, she walks through the fields of wheat, Papyrus and lotus, small geese fly from the ground whilst she follows a calf, her breath has the  scent of flowers and she is adorned with Lotus blossoms, and in her arms she carries Lotus geese fruits and wine.  All temples survived on the produce of the land, and the produce of the harvest Festival at Dendera proceeded the most spectacular festival that was known as The Festival of The Beautiful Embrace  which celebrated Hathor's marriage to Horus

Once a year after the harvest, the Goddess Hathor’s barque was loaded with the produce of the field in preparation for the visit she made to see her Husband the God Horus at his earthly home the Temple Of Edfu. In splendid celebration Hathor was carried from her sanctuary within Dendera and greeted by all important dignitaries and priests, the locals were allowed to join this celebration,  then  gently her splendid barque that was known as ‘Great of Love’ carried her upstream where she was joined by a flotilla of barques until she arrived at Karnack Temple, where she would stay for a few days to visit the Goddess Mut, the wife of Amun Ra, more barques joined her flotilla as she left Karnack to continue her journey. Hathors husband, Horus would leave his temple at Edfu and sail downstream with a flotilla of boats, to greet her, and in glorious celebration he would escort his wife to his home at Edfu Temple, to begin 14 days of celebrations where their sacred marriage was enacted once more and their son Ihy was conceived. Each day throughout the waxing moon the same set of cerimonies were performed. It was thought that their son Ihy was conceived on the fourth day.  On the day of the full moon Hathor bid Horus farewell and began her return journey to her own temple at Dendera once more.