Beginning of the year according to the ancient Egyptian calendar

According to one version, August 29 was the beginning of the year according to the ancient Egyptian calendar, but this theory has its supporters and opponents Modern scientists know quite a lot about the customs and traditions that are associated with the celebration of the New Year among the Egyptians, but still cannot come to a consensus about the date Serious debates are raging in scientific circles, new theories are emerging, and old ones are being refuted Egyptian civilization fell into oblivion more than 2,000 years ago, leaving behind not only a rich heritage, but also a huge number of mysteries and secrets Scientists still cannot explain exactly how the Egyptians built their pyramids, and the phonetics of the Egyptian language will never be revived again, because its speakers no longer exist in the world For example, the names of famous pharaohs or gods of the ancient Egyptian pantheon could sound completely different from how they are pronounced today If they managed to find the key to the riddle of consonant sounds, then vowels became a real headache for Egyptologists, since native speakers simply neglected them in writing Scientists have only unpronounceable sets of vowel sounds on hand, so for convenience, researchers artificially created a phonetic system They just came up with vowel additions The ancient Egyptians had an interesting chronology system If we are counting from the Nativity of Christ, then the Egyptians counted the years from the beginning of the reign of each new pharaoh When the old king died and was replaced by a new one, this report was reset to zero until the first year The date of the change of times remained static and was called 1 tota The countdown of a new era always began from 1 year, which preceded the ascension to the throne of the new pharaoh It is also known that the ancient Egyptians had only three seasons in a year, each of which had 4 months Quite little is also known about the ancient Egyptian calendar Scientists still cannot come to a consensus on when the Egyptian New Year began They were the inventors of the solar calendar In the ancient Egyptian pantheon, Ra, the sun god, became the progenitor of all things and the supreme deity He came from the primary chaos of Nun, but at the same time was more ancient than the one who gave birth to him It was from Ra, who was both male and female, that all the gods of the Ennead originated It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the sun god for the Egyptians, so many assume that the change from one year to another was tied to one of the days of the solstice or equinox American researcher Gerald Hawkins was convinced that the Egyptians' New Year's date was the winter equinox - December 21 In the comments to Herodotus's History the date is indicated as July 19 Many scientists are inclined to believe that the Egyptian New Year began with the Nile flood, and the French Egyptologist Gaston Maspero is convinced that this event took place on August 29 There is no consensus on this matter yet Detailed descriptions of the process of celebrating the New Year among the ancient Egyptians were preserved on the walls of the sacred complex of the goddess of love Hathor in the ancient city of Dandara and the Temple of Horus in Idfu New Year's celebrations were on a wide scale Both the priests and ordinary residents of Ancient Egypt prepared in advance for this celebration Many associated the New Year with the cult of the goddess Hathor Two nights before the new year, the priests held a solemn ceremony of cleansing the crypt in its temple in Dandara On the night before the holiday, a sacred battle between the god Ra and the forces of darkness took place The priests held a solemn procession together with the pharaoh and the great queen - his main wife The statue of the goddess Hathor played a key role in this ritual - it was carried on a boat to the roof of the temple, where a gazebo with 12 columns was installed, each of which represented a month of the year The first ray of sunlight illuminated the gazebo and filled the statue with golden light, which was considered a blessing from the god Ra, which descended on the goddess herself, her temple and all of Egypt After this, mass celebrations began, in which everyone took part Animals were sacrificed to the gods, dances were held, wine was drunk and high hopes were placed on the new year, which should bring a bountiful harvest