Goddess Hathor  of Dandara, and God Horus of Edfu
The city of Edfu in ancient Egypt was the holy city of Horus the Great because it is the place where the light (Horus) triumphed over the darkness (Set) – and here it should be noted that the personality of Horus the Great and his legends in Edfu differ from the personality of the child Horus (son of Isis) and his legends In other religious .centres
So, Horus Edfu is the light that the ancient Egyptian artist expressed in the form of a winged sun disk over the gates of temples and shrines.
On the inner wall of the eastern edifice of the Temple of Edfu, the ancient Egyptians recorded an accurate description of the annual celebration of the happy wedding feast, which takes place in the month of Abib to celebrate the wedding of Hathor Dendera (the energy of the moon/female) to Horus of Edfu (the energy of the sun/masculine).
On the Happy Marriage Feast, the statue of Hathor is transferred from the Temple of Dandara in a procession or wedding to the Temple of Edfu. It remains there for 14 days, after which it returns to Dendera again.
The Edfu Temple texts are among the texts that are very rich in details that preserved everything related to this joyful celebration so that we can imagine the celebration in all its details. Still, we can revive it again, just as the ancient Egyptians celebrated it.
The celebration begins in the city of Dendera (where the temple of Hathor) on the fourth of the month of Aviv with preparations for the happy event with many rituals, most of which are rituals specific to the temple, meaning that they take place within the walls of the temple and do not participate in the people who eagerly await the river trip in which the statue of Hathor is transferred From the city of Dendera to the city of Edfu on a sacred boat designated for this purpose.
The Edfu Temple texts mention that the beginning of the Nile journey of the statue of Hathor coincides with other rituals for harvesting fruits according to the decree issued by King Amenemhat, and the appearance of the name of King Amenemhat in these texts describing the celebration of a happy marriage indicates that the rituals of this celebration date back at least to the era of the Middle Kingdom ( around 2000 BC)
Participation in this feast was not limited to the residents of the city of Dandara only. Still, the celebration attracted many residents of other cities in Upper Egypt and the oases who travel to the city of Dandara before the start of the ceremonies and reside there in camps waiting for the procession or wedding that coincides with the rise in temperatures And also the rise of the Nile waters.
The celebration of the happy marriage (Hathor’s marriage to Horus the Great) begins on the fourth day preceding the first lunar crescent in the month of Abib, i.e. in the middle of summer, during which time the Nile rises. On this day, the outer gate of the Temple of Dendera opens gradually, and the guards of the four gates appear. Then out to the outer courtyard, each of the chief priests responsible for the temple’s property and the bearers of the sacred fire, followed by the guards of the three treasuries. Then they are followed by the priests of the Hours (i.e. the priests who watch the stars), the priests of the player (purification) and the priests who see the future and are familiar with the secrets of the sacred writing (hieroglyphics). Sacred Perfume walking while looking back.
Amidst the clouds of smoke rising from the incense burners, the sacred boat came out, carried on the shoulders of the priests, who were dressed in clothes of bright white linen. And the sacred boat is usually made of wood inlaid with gold and in the middle of it is a cabin or sarcophagus in which the statue of Hathor stands. In the outer courtyard of the temple, the people stand eagerly waiting for the exit of the sacred boat carrying the bride “Hathor” who will be wed to her groom “Horus” – everyone is eagerly waiting for the opportunity To have a look at the sacred boat before it sails to Edfu, the holy city of Horus. Everyone is eager to win a look and stretches from the light of the eye of “Ra” from Hathor’s “golden”.
The sacred boat and above it the sarcophagus carrying the statue of Hathor comes out of the temple of Dendera in front of the eyes of the crowd of people who are waiting for the divine bride (goddess of love and beauty) to leave her house (her temple) at Dendera to wed to Horus (the warrior hero/victor) in his holy city “Edfu” “.
The procession is preceded by priests carrying the sacred (golden) boat, the front of which is decorated with a statue of Hathor, and they put it on another boat anchored above the Nile page.
It is noted that the boat carrying the statue of the goddess of love and beauty “Hathor” does not sail the Nile using oars, but is tied with ropes to five boats that precede it carrying oars, where the rowing is from these five boats and not from the sacred boat.
The five boats follow a certain order that does not deviate from it. The first boat is dedicated to the vice king and the overseer of his property, and the second boat is adorned with a statue of Horus that appears to be hovering over the boat. It is dedicated to the keeper of the treasures of the temple and the choir of the chanting priests coming from the city of “Nekhen” (the red kom, located Between the cities of Esna and Edfu), and the third boat is dedicated to the mayor of Edfu, accompanied by a group of singers. The rest of the boats are intended for senior statesmen and nobles who participated in the celebration. On the two banks of the Nile (Eastern and Western), the army soldiers stand in full official clothes and Their arms are in regular rows to greet the holy procession as it passes. Behind the ranks of the military honour, young men from different parts of Egypt stand, each carrying a tree branch and looking for himself in any of the small boats of the peasants that go behind the sacred boat and follow it.
The journey of the sacred boat carrying the statue of “Hathor” from Dandara to Edfu took more than a day, and the sacred boat had to cross the first stage of the journey at once and in one day. The first stop for the procession was located 60 km south of Dendera, near The city of Waste (Thebes / Luxor). The people participating in the procession must prepare themselves to follow the procession either on foot or in small papyrus boats. As for the main procession, it consists of the sacred boat carrying the statue of Hathor pulled by five boats, and Everyone participating in the main procession had a role in protecting the procession during its progress and ensuring the success of the trip and the safe arrival of Hathor to her groom, Hur.Bahadit (victorious)
The governor of Elephantine Island was assigned to him, and his entourage to monitor navigation and test the depth of the water in every area the procession passed to protect the sacred boat and prevent it from colliding with obstacles of mud or sand. The governor of Dendera was tasked with guarding the procession and the sacred boat and the mayor of a city. Nekhen (the red kom) he and his entourage were assigned to watch the ropes in the bow of the sacred boat, while the mayor of the city of Komir (near Esna) was assigned to watch the stern of the sacred boat.
It is worth noting that most of the sailors participating in the Happy Marriage procession are chosen from these two cities (Nekhen and Kumir).
Thebes (Luxor) was the first stop, and it is the most important station. Therefore, it was necessary to make sure that the sacred boat arrived early. As soon as the boats reached the city of Thebes, they stopped near the Karnak temple, and all the priests, sailors and courtiers disembarked and went in a procession carrying The sacred boat with a statue of Hathor in it, and they were roaming around the temple of “Mut” in Karnak. The most important feature of this temple is its sacred lake, known as Ishiro Lake, in the shape of a crescent moon. One of its most important features is the presence of large numbers of statues of Sekhmet, the fiery goddess, which the ancient Egyptians portrayed in the form of a woman with the head of a lioness, which was codified in the Book of the Heavenly Cow.
The legend says that people revolted and plotted against Ra, who became old at the beginning of time, his bones turned into silver, and his hair turned into lapis lazuli. And when “Ra” wanted to punish them, he sent to his eye, and she came to him in the form of Sekhmet (the strong one), and she poured out her wrath on the humans and began to kill and drink from their blood until she was about to exterminate them all. Before that happened, Ra wanted to stop her, so he ordered The priests of Heliopolis mixed beer in red colour and poured it on the ground. The angry lioness thought it was human blood, and she drank from it until she got drunk. When she got drunk, she turned from angry Sekhmet to the cheerful, meek Hathor, and this is how he saved the humans.
Another legend tells that the eye of “Ra” became angry and fled from Egypt to the south to the upper Nile, so “Ra” sent his messenger Thoth, who disguised himself as a baboon, to bring her back to her father, Ra. When Thoth arrived with the angry Sekhmet to Aswan, Thoth threw her In the cold waters of Beja Island to extinguish her anger, and there she turned from a fierce lioness to “Bastet”, the gentle cat, which is the third face of “Hathor – Sekhmet”.
We return to the procession of Hathor and the boats. After the circumambulation in the temple of “Mutt”, the sacred procession used to stop for the night in the holy city of Taiba, as it was not desirable to sail at night to ensure the safety of the sacred boat. And the trip continues the next morning.
After stopping at the first station, which is the city of Thebes, 60 kilometres south of Dendera, the procession moves the next morning in the direction of the second station, which is the city of “Komer” near Esna, located about 80 kilometres south of Thebes, Luxor. Distribution of bread, beer and various types of food to the pilgrims travelling with the holy procession.
As for the third stop, it is the city of “Nekhen” (the red kom and it is located between the cities of Esna and Edfu), which is the capital of the Kingdom of the South before the unification of Egypt at the beginning of the dynastic era, and from this city specifically, the city of “Nekhen” brings the sacred bull for sacrifice.
Although the third stage of the journey (from Komir to Nekhen) is only 20 kilometres, and the procession can continue to sail after it has been cut, the priests organizing the celebration were issuing orders for the procession to stop at the third station for rest and overnight, because the fourth stage must be cut on a Day One. It is necessary to arrive early to Edfu to allow sufficient time for the rites of arrival and the holy wedding.
The remaining distance of the journey from “Nekhen” to Edfu was only 20 kilometres, and the convoy had to sail from “Nekhen” early to ensure that it reached Edfu before two o’clock in the afternoon, and upon reaching Edfu, Hathor’s procession stopped right before the city and waited for a boat to appear. Holy Horus, who carries his statue to come out of the city and receive his bride, who has just arrived.
The sacred boat of Horus is distinguished from the boat of Hathor in that it carries in the foreground a statue of the falcon of Horus and above its head the sun disk.
The boat of Horus has to meet with the boat of Hathor in a place on the outskirts of Edfu known as (The Throne of Horus), and from this place, the procession turns into a double procession in which the two sacred boats of the bride and groom walk side by side.
In this place (the throne of Horus), many rituals are held, including predicting future events performed by the clairvoyant priests.
And before the double procession heads to the city of Edfu, four geese representing the four sons of Horus are released in the four original directions (north, south, east and west), as usually happens in the coronation rituals of the kings of Egypt. If the geese refused to fly and remained standing, this was a harbinger of obstacles in the path of the procession, which is a bad omen. In this case, the priests lower the masts, bend down, and offer the Ma’at (the statue of the Maat) offerings, offerings of food, sweets, bouquets and trees. Willows and music play to evoke the goddess “Nate”, who is the goddess responsible for opening the river path for navigation
After the holy procession reaches the city of Edfu, it heads to a place known as “Tel Geb”, and “Geb” is the god of the land for the ancient Egyptians. In this sacred place, more sacrifices are made, and then the double wedding procession heads, which includes the boat of Hathor and the boat of Horus Bahadit (the victor), to the port of Edfu.
And when approaching the port, the sacred boats are towed with ropes to enter the port at the end of the day on which the new moon crescent is born.
The crowds of people who came from all over Egypt greet the sacred boats when they are docked in the port of Edfu by saluting and cheering and striking tambourines and clinking with “Hathor’s sistrum” and by holding the “Minet” While the priests distribute foods, sweets, cakes and drinks to the participants in the celebration, as well as distributing the aromatic fats with which the participants paint their bodies so that they smell perfume while they sing and dance.
In the outer courtyard of the Edfu temple, singers, dancers, and harp players await while the priests carry the two holy boats, in one of them a statue of Hathor, and the other a statue of Horus, each standing inside his cabin.
The procession of priests carrying sacred boats enters the outer courtyard of the Edfu temple while music is played and incense is released. The sacred procession passes in front of the cheering crowds from the outer courtyard, then to the pillared hall, which only priests can enter, then to the Hall of the Ninth, and then to the Holy of Holies, where the statue of Hathor and a statue Horus is there and carries with them their sacred symbols.
At that, the audience in the outer court chanted the golden chant of Hathor and shouted (Now the connection between Hathor and Horus has been restored, now the happy marriage has taken place)
The statues of Hathor and Horus are kept in the Holy of Holies for a period of thirteen days, and no one sees them except the high priest. Throughout the thirteen days, the celebrations continue in the outer courtyard of Edfu Temple and throughout the city, which rejoiced at the arrival of the bride, Set El Hassan and the beauty “Hathor”.
On the fourteenth day, he carries the sacred boat that includes the statue of Hathor and leaves the Edfu temple amid farewell to the crowds of the people.
The sacred boat is placed on top of another boat. It is towed with ropes by five other boats and heads north back to the city of Dandara amid the farewell cries of the goddess of love and beauty, thus ending the happy marriage rituals between Set El Hassan and the camel “Hathor” and the victorious hero “Horus Bahdiet”, and Hathor returns to her home (temple) in the city of Dendera – it is one of the most beautiful holidays in ancient Egypt. It is called “The Beautiful Feast of Reconnection.”