The Ancient Egyptian Calendar & Festivals: Part 1

In recent years there has been a tremendous interest among occultists in incorporating the festivals of Ancient Egypt into their practices. While this is admirable and potentially a worthwhile endeavor, considerable confusion has arisen over understanding exactly how the Egyptians calculated the timing of the festivals. Further chaos has centered around modern interpretations of the meanings of many of the festivals themselves. Much of this confusion is largely due to misinformation as well as the distinct desire among some ritualists to graft the Egyptian system onto the Celtic Sabbat calendar. In the first of this two–part series I hope to clear up some of the confusion by presenting an accurate, fully documented thesis of exactly how the Egyptian calendars were calculated. In the second part of this series I will examine the festivals themselves and how many of these were celebrated.

As we begin our study it is important to realize that the Egyptians used two distinctly different calendars systems. The oldest of these was lunar based dating to predynastic days. The antiquity of this calendar can be documented back more than 5,000 years. The second calendar, frequently termed the "civil calendar" by Egyptologists, wasn’t introduced until sometime between 2937 B.C.E. and 2821 B.C.E. (1). Because of the ease of calculation, it is this latter design that is more commonly understood and used by modern occultists. This is unfortunate as the Ancient Egyptians used the civil calendar primarily as an administrative tool and considered it devoid of spiritual significance (2). The lunar calendar, on the other hand, was considered sacred, and it was for this reason that the cycles of the moon governed the actual timing of the festivals themselves (3). From both a historical and magical point of reference it is vital to realize that rather than abandoning the older lunar calendar in favor of the newer civil calendar the Egyptians used both systems concurrently throughout the remainder of their civilization.

To understand these calendars we must first take a look at the environment that formed Ancient Egypt. Perhaps the most important feature was the River Nile itself. The Nile was and is the life blood of Egypt. Without this incredible river Egypt as we know it would not have existed, for the Nile had a

remarkable trait: Each year after the harvest had been completed the hottest season soon set in. This was a time of great anticipation and fear because the waters of the Nile would have receded, with its level becoming very low. Yet, just as the season would seem almost hopeless an awesome phenomena would occur; the Nile would suddenly begin to rise, eventually filling the entire length of the valley. Known as the inundation or Akhet, this flooding lasted approximately four months. During the initial stages of this the Nile would turn a brownish–red as it carried rich soil from the interior of Africa down river (4). Once the waters receded a layer of black soil was left on the banks. This soil became the farm land for the next agricultural season. This was an essential characteristic that allowed this fabulous civilization to exist on the very edge of the world’s largest desert, the Sahara. Without the inundation there would have been no life in the valley as we have come to understand it.

Because of this event the Egyptian year was divided into three distinct seasons: Akhet meaning inundation, Peret meaning emergence or growth, and Shomu meaning low–water and harvest. The word Shomu may well be an ancient root for the English word "summer." While Akhet was the season in which the Nile was depositing soil, Peret became the time of planting, cultivating and maintaining the crops. Shomu then followed with the beginning of this being the time of harvest. However, as noted earlier, Shomu quickly moved on to be a very hot–dry period in the year (5). Each of these seasons lasted approximately four lunar months (6).

Despite modern misconceptions there was no accurate way to predict with certainty when the Nile would actually begin to rise from year to year. Studies done in the late nineteenth century (well before the building of the High Dam at Aswan) show that in actuality this could begin anytime between April and June in our current calendar (7). However, the Egyptians soon came to realize that each year an important celestial event occurred which symbolically and perhaps intuitively came to represent the spiritual cause for the inundation (8). This was the rising of the star Sirius on the eastern horizon at sunrise, a phenomenon which is referred to by Egyptologists and astronomers alike as a ‘heliacal’ rising. Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, was known as Sopdet—the "bright one"—to the Egyptians. For approximately seventy days this star would remain hidden from view, suddenly making its appearance at sunrise. This was seen as a very powerful, spiritual moment, so much so that it was commemorated with elaborate temple rituals by the priesthood and mass celebrations on the part of the public. It is for this reason that, ideally, this cosmic event came to be seen as the starting point of the year both for the stellar calendar (which evolved into the civil calendar) and the lunar calendar.

As was previously mentioned the lunar calendar was by far the older system used in Egypt. And it was the lunar calendar that determined the timing of the majority of the religious festivals (9). Because each lunar cycle can vary in length the dates of the sacred holidays change from year to year. The average twelve month lunar cycle lasts approximately 354 days, instead of the 365 days that occur between the heliacal risings of Sirius. It is for this reason that it is simply impossible to lay the festival calendars found in the ancient temples over our modern fixed calendar with any accuracy. Rather, the same set of guidelines used in Egypt that enabled them to calculate the lunar calendar must be applied today if accuracy is to be maintained. The following are the ancient guidelines (10):

1. The lunar year begins with the first New Moon following the heliacal rising of Sirius (the first appearance of Sirius on the eastern horizon at sunrise).

2. Whenever Sirius rose helically in the last eleven days of the twelfth month of the previous lunar year an intercalary (additional) month was added to the new year. This thirteenth lunar month was called Djehuty (Greek name: Thoth) and was added at the beginning of the new year. This was done to avoid having the festival of Wep–renpet, "Opener of the Year" (the rising of Sirius) from falling into the first lunar month of the next year. This thirteenth month would need to be added approximately once every third year.

3. Whenever the first day of the lunar calendar would fall before the first day of the civil calendar, the intercalary (additional) month was added.

4. A lunar week consisted of the time between each of the four phases of the moon, approximately seven days. Each lunar month was named after a specific Egyptian Goddess or God to whom it was dedicated, or after a major festival that occurred during that month. The following is a list of the names of the lunar months as they related to the three Egyptians seasons, showing how these evolved over time from their original names to those used in the Greco–Roman Period:

The civil calendar on the other hand is much easier to calculate than the lunar. Originally the civil calendar was engineered to begin with the day of the appearance of Sirius/Sopdet at sunrise. Despite the fact that the Nile may have already begun to rise this date was considered to be the beginning of the season of Akhet. In the civil calendar each season is composed of four months, each month is made up of three weeks, and each week consisted of ten days. The total number of days in the civil year is 360. At the end of the last month of the civil year five days were added that were considered to be independent from the year. These were viewed as the days in the year on which several gods were born, primarily because these days were outside of the mundane civil calendar and thus of a spiritual nature. These were termed "the Days Upon the Year;" however, Egyptologists refer to them as the epagomenal days.

It is important to mention here that the actual stellar year/solar year is 365 1/4 days. Due to the additional quarter day that this event accrues each year, it isn’t hard to see that the civil calendar soon would move out of sync with the actual rising of Sirius. This wasn’t too important to the ancient Egyptians; as pointed out earlier the civil calendar was largely used for managerial purposes. It wasn’t until 239 B.C. that Ptolemy III Euergetes issued a decree making every fourth year a leap year with the addition of a sixth epagomenal day that an attempt was made to keep the civil calendar in line with the natural Sirius cycle.

In computing the civil calendar for our current era I prefer to use the "ideal" model of always beginning with the actual appearance of Sirius on the horizon at sunrise. In practice this means that approximately once every four years a sixth Day Upon the Year has to be added to that year’s calendar (just as had been done in the time of the Ptolemies). To make sure that the accurate date is being followed, I suggest the use of a good astronomical computer program to determine the exact moment of Sirius’ appearance for your location.

Initially there were no names for the civil months; eventually though, names were developed, the majority of which were derived from those used in the older lunar calendar. To avoid confusion oftentimes only the number of the month in a season would be used when referring to the civil calendar. When referring to civil dates these were frequently written as the number of the month in the season, followed by the season’s name and then by the number of the day in the month.

For the practicing magician the civil calendar can be an important tool that helps to regulate material/mundane affairs. As such in our temple we use this calendar to prepare for, and gauge the progress and the material success of projects that we are involved in. This is not unlike the preparation, growth, and harvest of the crops that occurred in ancient Egypt, except that rather than tilling the land as our ancestors did, we are tilling the material environment created by our current era and culture. In both cases the result is the same; a prosperous material harvest that satisfies our physical needs so that we may devote ourselves to spiritual pursuits. On the other hand, the lunar calendar is oriented toward the spiritual side of life. It is for this reason that when working on matters of an esoteric nature the priesthood of Akhet Hwt–Hrw align these with the lunar calendar and its festivals, for the moon has always been a symbol of intuition, psychic perception, and spiritual insight. Both the civil and lunar calendars work well together as they fulfil the requirements of both aspects of our nature; our material needs and spiritual essence.

Parker, Richard A. The Calendars of Ancient Egypt. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1950.

________________. "Egyptian Astronomy, Astrology and Calendrical Reckoning." Dictionary of Scientific Biography, vol. XV, Suppl. I New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1978, pp. 706–727.

Roberts, Alison. Hathor Rising: The Power of the Goddess in Ancient Egypt. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions., 1997.

Season	Original Names	Late Period	Greek
Intercalary Month:	Djehuty
I Akhet	Tekhy	Djehuty	Thoth
II Akhet	Menhet	pA-n-IpAt	Phaophi
III Akhet	Hwt-Hrw	Hwt-Hrw	Athyr
IV Akhet	Ka-Hr-Ka	Ka-Hr-Ka	Choiak
I Peret	Sf-Bdt	tA-aAbt	Tybi
II Peret	Rekh Wer	(pA-n) mhr	Mechir
III Peret	Rekh Neds	pA-n-Imn Htpw	Phamenoth
IV Peret	Renwett	(Pa-N) Rnnwtt	Pharmuthi
I Shomu	Hnsw	(PA-n) xnsw	Pachons
II Shomu	Hnt-htj	pA-n-Int	Payni
III Shomu	Ipt Hmt	Ipip	Epiphi
IV Shomu	Wep-Renpet	mswt-Ra	Mesore