http://www.polysyllabic.com/Egyptian.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_calendar
http://showcase.netins.net/web/ankh/calendar1.html
http://hometown.aol.com/tokapu/calendar00.htm
http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/ideology/festivaldates.html
http://ourworld.cs.com/frankherbert10/heliacAN.html#LINKvbs
There were 3 seasons in the Egyptian year, Akhet (inundation) (spring to early summer), Peret (emergence) (early summer to mid fall) and Shemu (low water) (mid fall to the spring)which corresponded to the annual flooding of the Nile. Each season held 3 months. The seasons were determined by the rising of heliacal rising of the star Sirius (Sothis in Egyptian), which roughly coincided with the flooding of the Nile. The waters started rising around the end of June, and the flood period (Akhet) lasted until October, covering the land with rich black mud and preparing it for the sowing and growing period (Peret). The harvest time (Shemu) started at the end of February and ended with the new Nile flood.
Akhet: June 21st to October 21stPeret: October 21st to February 21stShemu: February 21st to June 21st| No. | Seasonal Names | Individual Names | Coptic Names |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | First of Akhet | Tekh | Thout |
| II | Second of Akhet | Menhet | Paopi |
| III | Third of Akhet | Hwt-Hwr | Hathor |
| IV | Fourth of Akhet | Ka-Hr-Ka | Koiak |
| V | First of Peret | Sf-Bdt | Tobi |
| VI | Second of Peret | Rekh Wer | Meshir |
| VII | Third of Peret | Rekh Neds | Paremhat |
| VIII | Fourth of Peret | Renwet | Paremoude |
| IX | First of Shemu | Hnsw | Pashons |
| X | Second of Shemu | Hnt-Htj | Paoni |
| XI | Third of Shemu | Ipt-Hmt | Epip |
| XII | Fourth of Shemu | Wep-Renpet | Mesori |
There were 12 months, each month lasting exactly 30 days. There were 3 weeks in a month, each week being 10 days. The last five days of the year (Epagomenal Days) did not belong to a month, and they were as follows:
1 | Mswt wsjr | The Birth of Osiris |
2 | Mswt Hr | The Birth of Horus |
3 | Mswt stx | The Birth of Set |
4 | Mswt Ast | The Birth of Isis |
5 | Mswt nbt-!wt | The Birth of Nephthys |
At a later date, a sixth day was added (Leap day) every four years to keep the calendar in sync with the Gregorian calendar.
There are few good records of festival dates and the like, so those will have to be found and added later. It does seem, however, that they had a festival to some god or other almost every day of the year!
Ouch! Okay - I got those dates kinda wrong, assuming that I want to stick with the concept that the New Year starts when Sirius rises. I was considering 'arranging' the calendar so that the seasons actually lined up better, but - I'm not sure. It would certainly make the observance of the festivals more 'right' because they would actually correspong to the seasons in Memphis. Humph. I guess that's one of the disadvantages of being solitary - how much can I/should I change to reflect the new place I'm trying to observe this very old faith in?Anyhow - Using the VBS link up there, and including my longitude/latitude, it seems like the New Year would start on August 10, 2006. Interestingly enough, the New Year in Memphis, Egypt, would start on August 5, 2006 - a very convienent 5 days gap between the two. Therefore, I could celebrate the Epagomenal Days starting on the 5th, and then celebrate the New Year on the 10th.
I'm still wigging on the season shift. Akhet will end up starting in late summer! *shakes head* I'm actually kinda puzzled on how the seasons are so different. Egypt should have roughly the same seasons as Orlando, and heaven KNOWS August in Orlando is SOOOOOOOO not springy. I don't know. What's more important - the aura that surronds me, or the date of rising of a star that I most likely won't even acknowledge? They started using Sirius as the start of their New Year because of a correlation between it's apperance and the flooding of the Nile. The flooding of the Nile, to the Ancient Egyptians, represented the beginning of the agricultural year - a sign that the Earth was again preparing herself to be fertile and to grow and to be bountiful. The festival calendar was linked to the civil calendar based on the first new moon after the rising of Sothis.So, if I wanted to hold to the spirit rather than the letter (hah, talk about REALLY making my own thing!!) I would need to pick some event in MY climate that resonates to me as the first sign that the world is warming up. In addition - it shold be about 4 months before I would start seriously planting. *thinks* Akhet should END around the last frost, roughly. Hmm... I'll have to mull over this one a little more.
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