Festivals of Ancient Egypt
Wag Festival
The Wag Festival is one of the oldest festivals honoring the Akhu (ancestors), dating back to the Pyramid Texts in the Old Kingdom. It took place on the 17th and 18th day of the first month of Akhet, which is towards the end of August on the Gregorian calendar. The original meaning of the word wag is unclear, but a similar word in the Kemetic language means "rejoice."
This festival goes beyond a mere memorial service for the dead by the living; the Akhu are invited to actively participate as well. In antiquity, statues of the deceased were taken in procession to local temples and necropoli, given various offerings of flowers, food and beer, and then processed back to their tombs with torches lit in their honor. Offerings of fabric for the statues of local gods and their priests were also traditionally given at this time.
By the New Kingdom a symbolic voyage of the Akhu to Abydos (the main temple for Wesir, King of the Dead) was enacted. On the eve of the Wag Festival in Thebes, the priests put model boats on top of the tomb chapels with their prows pointed towards Abydos. At midnight the next day, the boat were then turned around, representing the return of the Akhu to their tombs.
The Wag Festival ended with a presentation of "victory wreaths" for the Akhu, (made from vine, persea, olive, and acacia leaves, combined with papyrus and lotus blossoms), which were placed at the tombs the following day on the Festival of Djehuty (Thoth). The "victory" element in this offering refers to the successful transition of the ka through Judgment into the realm of the Blessed Dead.
The Wag Festival is still celebrated today by the House of Netjer in the Akhu Shrines of its members. Special offerings, candles and hand-made paper boats are placed in the shrines. To view my Akhu Shrine, along with photos from a recent trip to the cemetery, click here. Many also visit the gravesites of their relatives and loved ones, while some write tributes (Letters to the Dead) at the Virtual Abdju.
Many thanks to Kai-Imakhu Neferuhethert of the House of Netjer, whose extensive research into the festivals of ancient Egypt is used as reference here. Visit her beautiful Domain of Hethert (Hathor) to learn more about these ancient festivals, and other aspects of Kemetic life and worship.
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