Category: Heru-sa-Aset, Horus son of Isis

Aset Luminous, Auset Luminous, Isis Luminous, Aset, Auset, Isis, Calendar, Festivals, Heru-sa-Aset, Horus son of Isis, Navigation of Aset, Navigation of Isis, Sarapis

Feasts and Festivals of Aset for March

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4 Peret/Parmuthi/March

1 to 8-Feast of Aset
Offer a feast to Aset. Wine, meat and other offerings were offered in antiquity.

1-Feast of Ra and the Eye of Ra
Honor Aset and Ra today. Honor Aset as an Eye of Ra, the protector of the sun god and a solar Goddess.

4 to 21-Aset, Mother of God Gives Birth to Heru-sa-Aset
Honor Aset and Heru-sa-Aset during this festival. Offer cakes and pastries to the Goddess and Her son. Offer Heru-sa-Aset a birthday cake.

5 to 6 of March-Navigation of Aset/Isidis Navigium
Here is my write-up on this festival: Navigation of Aset. This is the date on the Roman calendar for this festival.

9 of March-Adoration of Aset, the very Great Goddess, Sovereign and Savior/Proskynema of Isis
Here is my post about Proskynema: Proskynema

20 of March-Pelusia
Honor the Goddess today with Her son Heru, the Child (Heru-pa-khered/Harpokrates; a form of Heru-sa-Aset). During this festival, Sarapis was also honored along with Isis as both were patrons of the start of the sailing season. Here is the Wikipedia entry on this festival: Pelusia.

20 to 21-Navigation of Aset/Isidis Navigium
Here is my write-up on this festival: Navigation of Aset. This is the date on the ancient Egyptian calendar for this festival.

20 to 23-Festival of Aset
This is a festival recorded by Pausanias. According to him, this festival was about cleaning the temple and shrines as well as giving offerings to the Goddess.

28-Aset Births Heru-sa-Aset/Isis Births Horus the Younger
Honor Aset and Heru-sa-Aset during this festival. Offer cakes and pastries to the Goddess and Her son. Offer Heru-sa-Aset a birthday cake.

29-Dedication Feast of Aset
This may be the Nubian date found on the Temple of Philae for the Navigation of Aset. Here is my post about it: Navigation of Aset

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Heru-sa-Aset, Horus son of Isis, Offerings and Symbols

Heru-sa-Aset: Offerings and Symbols

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Offerings to Heru-sa-Aset: (Greek: Harsiese; Horus son of Isis)-

Some of these are attested in ancient sources while others come from my own (or other people’s) personal experience giving offerings to the God.

Liquid Offerings
Water
Milk
Beer
Pomegranate-Wine
Wine
Coffee
Tea

Food Offerings
Bread and Barley
Fruits and Vegetables
Figs
Dates
Fig Newtons
Pastries; cookies and cakes
chocolate; chocolate with nuts

Meat Offerings
chicken or duck
beef

Non-Food Offerings
Scents: myrrh, frankincense, Kapet (Kyphi)
Flowers: Roses, blue flowers
Light: Blue candles; beeswax candles; lanterns
Colors: Blue,
Jewelry: Gold, solar colors; silver, bronze

Taboos
pork
fish; any seafood

Disposal of Offerings
1) Eat them
2) With wine or water, you can leave it to evaporate on the Shrine or pour it out as a libation when done.

Sacred Animals
Falcon
Hawk
Bull
Lion

Sacred Symbols
Udjat Eye
Moon
Sun

Aspects
Heru pa Khered: (Greek: Harpocrates; Horus the Child)
Heru nedj itef: (Greek: Harendotes; Horus, Savior of His Father)

Syncretisms
Min-Heru
Sobek-Heru

Aset, Auset, Isis, Calendar, Devotional Practice, Festivals, Heru-sa-Aset, Horus son of Isis, Wesir, Asar, Ausar, Osiris

Monthly Festivals for Aset

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These are the days sacred to Aset within each month. These are not the yearly festivals, but monthly ones. Some were Egyptian in origin and belong on the lunar calendar and others were adopted from the Greeks or Romans living in Egypt.

Many of these festivals are governed by the cycles of the moon. Aset (Isis) is honored on these days along with either Her son Heru-sa-Aset or Her Husband Wesir as they are both moon gods. Aset Herself is more associated with the sun in Egyptian cosmology than the moon. Her association here has to do more with the cycles of Heru-sa-Aset (birth to death or injury and healing of the Eye of Heru) and Wesir (death and renewal).

Monthly Festivals

1st Day of Each Lunar Month-Sacred to Aset
From the astronomical ceiling of Senmut, this day is being noted as being sacred to Aset.

3rd Day of Each Month-Birth of Aset
This festival is from this book Ahnas el Medineh: The Tomb of Paheri at El Kab. Aset’s birthdays were celebrated with the lighting of candles and feasts were made in Her honor. Today, you could offer Aset a Birthday cake (blue, white or chocolate seem to go over well) and cook a great feast.

4th Day of Each Month-Offering to Aset of Philae
Make offerings to Aset, the Goddess of Philae today. Possible offering ideas can be found here: Offerings.

6th Day of Each Month-Sixth-Day Feast
This feast was associated with honoring the ancestors as well as Ra and Wesir. Aset Herself was given an oblation on this day.

7th Day of Each Month-Seventh Day Feast
Listed within a hymn from the Temple of Philae, this festival was initially associated with Ra. You could honor Aset and Ra on this day.

8th Day of Each Lunar Month-Sacred to Aset
This is listed within the Frieze of the Temple of Edfu. I don’t have much more information on this besides that at the moment.

15th Day of Each Lunar Month-Goddess Fifteen
This is supposed to be the Full Moon. You could honor Aset along with Her son Heru-sa-Aset and Her husband Wesir who are both moon gods. You could incorporate various myth cycles into your celebration such as the healing of Heru-sa-Aset and the renewal of Wesir. There is one of the myths of the Healing of Heru’s Eye which I particularly like: Aset and the Vineyard

22nd Day of Each Lunar Month-Festival of Sopdet
Aset can be honored here as Sopdet as the cycle of the star’s departing and returning can be celebrated monthly along with being celebrated yearly.

New Moon-Festival of the New Moon of Aset
This is listed on the Temple of Abydos and it mentions oxen are given to the Goddess. This may also be the First Day of the Lunar Month as that is normally on the New Moon.

Sources

David, Rosalie. A Guide to Religious Ritual at Abydos. Warminster: Aris and Phillips, 1981.

Donalson, Malcolm Drew. The Cult of Isis in the Roman Empire: Isis Invicta. (New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2003), 82.

Griffith, F. Ll. Catalogue of the Demotic Graffiti of the Dodecaschoenus. Volume 1 Text. (Oxford University Press, 1937), 46.

Morgan, Mogg. The Wheel of the Year in Ancient Egypt. Mandrake of Oxford, 2011.

Naville, Édouard Henri and Francis Llewellyn Griffith, et al. Ahnas el Medineh: The Tomb of Paheri at El Kab. (Egyptian Exploration Fund, 1894) 28.

Parker, Richard. The Calendars of Ancient Egypt (The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Studies in ancient oriental civilization). University of Chicago Press, 1950.

Zabkar, Louis V. Hymns to Isis in Her Temple at Philae. London: University Press of New England, 1988.

Aset, Auset, Isis, Heru-sa-Aset, Horus son of Isis, Myths, Wesir, Asar, Ausar, Osiris

Aset and the Vineyard

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There is a myth from the Papyrus Jumilhac, where Set cut out both Eyes of Heru and hid them in a mountain. Yinepu found them and buried them. Aset demanded that Ra, the Lord of All, allow Heru to be healed. He agrees. Aset waters the buried Eyes of Heru and a vineyard sprouts up, thus creating the first grapevine. Heru’s eyes are then healed (1).

Geraldine Pinch says that this myth represents Heru-sa-Aset regaining his royal regalia and power from Aset the Goddess of the throne. Plants growing from something buried is reminiscent of the growth of grain from Wesir. The use of water in making the vineyard is analogous to Aset’s tears renewing Wesir via the Nile flood and plants flourishing because of this. The Eye of Heru in a ritual context represents all offerings especially wine (2).

The Eyes of Heru here are both the sun and the moon. Like other myths where the Eyes are injured and restored, this myth is closely associated with the cycle of the moon and this case, also the sun.

Aset here is a goddess of royal power, sacred waters of renewal, the vineyard and the healer of the Eye of Heru and thus the moon. Aset is also the Lady of Wine.

You could incorporate this myth into the lunar festivals of each month when you honor Heru-sa-Aset Her or Wesir too as He is also Lord of Wine.

Sources

(1) Dimitri Meeks, and Christine Farvard-Meeks, Daily Life of the Egyptian Gods, trans. G. M. Goshgarian (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996), 75.

Pinch, Geraldine. Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses and Traditions of Ancient Egypt. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 132. From the Papyrus Jumilhac.

(2) Pinch, Geraldine. Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses and Traditions of Ancient Egypt. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 132

Aset, Auset, Isis, Calendar, Festivals, Heru-sa-Aset, Horus son of Isis, Wesir, Asar, Ausar, Osiris

Feasts of Each Month for Aset

jewelofaset

These are the days sacred to Aset within each month. These are not the yearly festivals, but monthly ones. Some were Egyptian in origin and belong on the lunar calendar and others were adopted from the Greeks or Romans living in Egypt.

Many of these festivals are governed by the cycles of the moon. Aset (Isis) is honored on these days along with either Her son Heru-sa-Aset or Her Husband Wesir as they are both moon gods. Aset Herself is more associated with the sun in Egyptian cosmology than the moon. Her association here has to do more with the cycles of Heru-sa-Aset (birth to death or injury and healing of the Eye of Heru) and Wesir (death and renewal).

Monthly Festivals

1st Day of Each Lunar Month-Sacred to Aset
From the astronomical ceiling of Senmut, this day is being noted as being sacred to Aset.

3rd Day of Each Month-Birth of Aset
This festival is from this book Ahnas el Medineh: The Tomb of Paheri at El Kab. Aset’s birthdays were celebrated with the lighting of candles and feasts were made in Her honor. Today, you could offer Aset a Birthday cake (blue, white or chocolate seem to go over well) and cook a great feast.

4th Day of Each Month-Offering to Aset of Philae
Make offerings to Aset, the Goddess of Philae today. Possible offering ideas can be found here: Offerings.

6th Day of Each Month-Sixth-Day Feast
This feast was associated with honoring the ancestors as well as Ra and Wesir. Aset Herself was given an oblation on this day.

7th Day of Each Month-Seventh Day Feast
Listed within a hymn from the Temple of Philae, this festival was initially associated with Ra. You could honor Aset and Ra on this day.

8th Day of Each Lunar Month-Sacred to Aset
This is listed within the Frieze of the Temple of Edfu. I don’t have much more information on this besides that at the moment.

15th Day of Each Lunar Month-Goddess Fifteen
This is supposed to be the Full Moon.

22nd Day of Each Lunar Month-Festival of Sopdet
Aset can be honored here as Sopdet as the cycle of the star’s departing and returning can be celebrated monthly along with being celebrated yearly.

New Moon-Festival of the New Moon of Aset
This is listed on the Temple of Abydos and it mentions oxen are given to the Goddess. This may also be the First Day of the Lunar Month as that is normally on the New Moon.

Sources

David, Rosalie. A Guide to Religious Ritual at Abydos. Warminster: Aris and Phillips, 1981.

Donalson, Malcolm Drew. The Cult of Isis in the Roman Empire: Isis Invicta. (New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2003), 82.

Griffith, F. Ll. Catalogue of the Demotic Graffiti of the Dodecaschoenus. Volume 1 Text. (Oxford University Press, 1937), 46.

Morgan, Mogg. The Wheel of the Year in Ancient Egypt. Mandrake of Oxford, 2011.

Naville, Édouard Henri and Francis Llewellyn Griffith, et al. Ahnas el Medineh: The Tomb of Paheri at El Kab. (Egyptian Exploration Fund, 1894) 28.

Parker, Richard. The Calendars of Ancient Egypt (The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Studies in ancient oriental civilization). University of Chicago Press, 1950.

Zabkar, Louis V. Hymns to Isis in Her Temple at Philae. London: University Press of New England, 1988.

Articles, Aset, Auset, Isis, Heru-sa-Aset, Horus son of Isis, Sobek, Sebek, Wesir, Asar, Ausar, Osiris

Aset in the Fayyum

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Wesir and Aset were honored in the Fayyum as early as the Middle Kingdom and continued through the New Kingdom, Late Period, and Greco-Roman period. Wesir, Aset and Sobek-Heru were honored here as the “Osirian triad” of this region.

The Wilbour papyrus from the XX dynasty mentions a small chapel or temple to Aset called “Per Aset, Mut Netjer” or “House of Aset, Mother of God.” One of Her epithets here was “Aset, the Great, Mother of God.” She was honored here as the mother of Sobek/Heru-sa-Aset and the wife of Wesir.

Sobek was identified with Heru-sa-Aset (as Sobek-Heru or Heru-Sobek) since at least the XII dynasty. There is also evidence for a syncretic deity Sobek-Wesir (Sobek-Osiris) who took the form of a mummified crocodile. There is also a syncretic form of Sobek-Ra-Wesir.

Wesir here is associated with the willow for his regenerative powers via vegetation and for containing his body as his coffin. This may have been a part of the Aset’s mourning for Wesir festivals recorded here. In the Book of the Fayyum it mentions, “Wesir, Foremost of the Land of the Lake, Who comes from Herakleopolis, guided on his path by his sister Aset.”

Aset was also honored at the Soknopaiou Nesos Temple in the Fayyum with the epithets Aset Nepherses (with the Beautiful Throne) and Nephremmis (of the Beautiful Arms). Along with Sobek, She was honored with Heru-sa-Aset and Wesir. She has a couple festivals listed at this temple.

1st Akhet/Thoth/August
19-Procession and Purification of Aset, of the Beautiful Arms (Isis Nephremmis) and Heru-sa-Aset (Harpokrates)

3rd Akhet/Hethara/October
17 to 20-Festival of Aset, with the Beautiful Throne (Isis Nepherses)

4th Akhet/Koiak/November
8 to 17-Festival of the Marriage of Aset, with the Beautiful Throne (Isis Nepherses), the Great Goddess

1 Peret/Tybi/December
1-Festival of the Foundation of the Temple of the Goddess Aset, of the Beautiful Arms (Isis Nephremmis), the Great

2 Peret/Mechir/January
12 to 24-Festival of Roses/Rhodophoria

3 Shomu/Epiphi/June to 4 Shomu/Mesore/July
26 of 3 Shomu to 15 of 4 Shomu-Festival of the Birth of Aset, with the Beautiful Throne (Isis Nepherses), the Great Goddess

4 Shomu/Mesore/July
26 of 4 Shomu to 4 of Extra Days-Festival of the Foundation of the Temple

At Medinat Medi, Aset-Renenutet was honored alongside Sobek and Heru-sa-Aset. Within the Third Greek Hymn of Isidoros, there are two festivals mentioned: 20 of Pachons and Thoth. The hymn mentions to give the gods libations, offerings and sacrifices.

1st Akhet/Thoth/August
20-Feast of Aset-Renenutet, Sobek and Heru-sa-Aset

1 Shomu/Pachons/April
20-Feast of Aset-Renenutet, Sobek and Heru-sa-Aset

Sources

Britcault, Laurent. “Isis Nepherses” in Egyptian Religion: The Last Thousand Years Part 1: Studies Dedicated to the Memory of Jan Quaegebeur. edited by Willy Clarysse, Antoon Schoors and Harco Willems. (Peeters, 1998), 522-527.

Capron, Laurent. “Déclarations fiscales du Temple de Soknopaiou Nêsos: éléments nouveaux,” in Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. Bd. 165, Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn (Germany). (2008), pp. 133-160.

Vanderlip, Vera Frederika. The Four Greek Hymns of Isidorus and the Cult of Isis. Canada: A. K. Hakkert, 1972.

Zecchi, Marco. “Osiris in the Fayyum.” Fayyum Studies: Volume 2. Sergio Pernigotti and Marco Zecchi, ed. Ante Quem and Dipartimento di Archeologia dell’Università di Bologna, 2006.
pages 122-124; 126-127; 131; 132-133; 133-134; 136;

Aset, Auset, Isis, Calendar, Devotional Practice, Festivals, Heru-sa-Aset, Horus son of Isis

Reposting Heru-sa-Aset Festivals

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So I have this book from the library: Perpillou-Thomas, Francoise. Fêtes d’Egypte ptolémaïque et romaine, d’après la documentation papyrologique grecque. (Studia Hellenistica Series 31). (Peeters Publishers, 1993), 88-89. It has tons of festivals in it from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods of Egypt.

Harpokratia is for Heru-pa-khered or Horus, the child. This festival is associated with Aset/Isis and Wesir/Sarapis at Tebtynis (in the Fayoum) and with Aset/Isis and Pramarres at Soknopaiou Nesos (also in the Fayoum).

11 to 12 of Tybi
Festival of Heru-sa-Aset/Harpokratia

14 of Tybi
Festival of Heru-sa-Aset/Harpokratia

16 of Tybi
Festival of Heru-sa-Aset/Harpokratia

19 of Tybi*
Festival of Heru-sa-Aset/Harpokratia

14 of Mechir
Festival of Heru-sa-Aset/Harpokratia

*The text lists this date with “11 or 12 of Tybi instead of 19 of Tybi”, so I’m guessing this date is also a festival day for this holiday.

Aset, Auset, Isis, Calendar, Festivals, Heru-sa-Aset, Horus son of Isis, Wesir, Asar, Ausar, Osiris

Reminder: May Festivals

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Here are the festivals for the rest of May for Aset.

21-Day of the Living Children of Nut
23 of May-Festival of Roses/Rhodophoria
28-Procession and Offerings in Djedu (Wesir, Aset and Heru-sa-Aset)
31 of May to 1 of June-Festival of Roses/Rhodophoria

The Children of Nut here are Wesir, Heru Wer, Set, Aset and Nebet Het. (You could include Wepwawet since He is a son of Nut as well).

For the Rhodophoria see my post: Rhodophoria/Rosalia Festival.

Djedu is Busiris (or Per Wesir) a city where Wesir was worshiped alongside Aset and Heru-sa-Aset. Give offerings to these Gods on this day.