Posted on 12/31/2005 11:28:56 AM PST by blam
Ancients Rang In New Year with Dance, Beer
By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News
Dec. 30, 2005 — Many ancient Egyptians marked the first month of the New Year by singing, dancing and drinking red beer until they passed out, according to archaeologists who have unearthed new evidence of a ritual known as the Festival of Drunkenness.
During ongoing excavations at a temple precinct in Luxor that is dedicated to the goddess Mut, the archaeologists recently found a sandstone column drum dating to 1470-1460 B.C. with writing that mentions the festival.
The discovery suggests how some Egyptians over 3,000 years ago began their New Year, which for them started around the end of August to coincide with seasonal, desired flooding that drenched farmlands where they would grow crops, such as barley and wheat. The Festival of Drunkenness usually occurred 20 days after the first big flood.
While drinking and dancing are part of many modern New Year's celebrations, the early Egyptians probably would have disapproved of the partying because they viewed such activities in a very different light.
Site Of Festival
"The Festival of Drunkenness was not a social occasion for them," said Betsy Bryan, who led the dig. "People did not come to enjoy themselves. They drank to enter an altered state so that they might witness the epiphany of a deity."
Bryan, who is chair of the Near Eastern Studies Department at Johns Hopkins University, added, "In general, the ancient Egyptians frowned upon drunkenness, but they would come together to drink for a specific purpose."
She told Discovery News that written references to the festival date to several thousand years ago, but the writing on the newly discovered sandstone column drum is one of the first pieces of evidence to directly link the festival to an Egyptian leader and to a temple location.
In this case, the leader is the female pharaoh Hatshepsut, who reigned for close to 20 years in the fifteenth century B.C. The column reads, "She (Hatshepsut) made it (the temple) as a monument for her mother Mut Mistress of Isheru, making for her a columned porch of drunkenness anew, so that she might do as one who is given life forever."
The findings are published in the new book "Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh," which contains writings that were compiled by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The book coincides with an exhibit on Hatshepsut that currently is at San Francisco's de Young Museum.
According to Bryan, the Festival of Drunkenness began with attendees appeasing a lion goddess deity, such as Mut, with red beer that received its color from red ochre.
A myth called the "Destruction of Mankind" suggested that if a goddess became drunk on red beer, she would no longer slaughter humans. The ancient Egyptians, therefore, believed that the colorful brew was associated with salvation.
Liturgical psalms used during the festival suggest that the goddess — probably depicted on a statue — was enthroned in the temple and then transported through a hall before being carried to the temple's front court. It was here that celebrants became inebriated, sang, danced, engaged in sexual activity, and waited to see the goddess.
"One commonality with modern celebrations is that they would have a 'designated driver' who was supposed to stay sober throughout the event to make sure that others were taken care of," said Bryan.
Richard Fazzini, chair of the Department of Egyptian, Classical and Ancient Middle Eastern Art at the Brooklyn Museum, indicated to Discovery News that he agreed with the findings. He said his museum's expedition team has been investigating the same Precinct of Mut. Fazzini is in the area now for a season of field work.
GGG Ping.
The more things change......
Happy New Year blam! We'll add 2005 to the history books tonight!
As if I needed another excuse to dance drunk.
This tradition morphed over time, leading to the modern belief that if you get a looker soused on the expensive stuff, you might get lucky...
What a coincidence! Contemporaries are doing the same.
Happy New Year's to you too.
Party smart.
There's nothing I hate more than drinking five bottles of champagne and waking up in Vegas married to a midget gymnast from Varekai! who doesn't really love me and only married me for my pawn tickets and my love for getting nasty in the back of a limo...
There are many good reasons for drinking,
One has just entered my head,
If a man doesn't drink when he's living,
How the hell can he drink when he's dead?
"The Festival of Drunkenness was not a social occasion for them," said Betsy Bryan, who led the dig. "People did not come to enjoy themselves. They drank to enter an altered state so that they might witness the epiphany of a deity."
Bryan, who is chair of the Near Eastern Studies Department at Johns Hopkins University, added, "In general, the ancient Egyptians frowned upon drunkenness, but they would come together to drink for a specific purpose."
I fail to see any difference with today.
When I get drunk on purpose it's amazing the Goddesses
I see.
Happy New Year, blam. Thank you for all of your wonderful posts throughout the year. I really appreciate them.
Someone is going to pi$$ Buffalo Head off again.
Pic #1- Only TWO beers to get there? Well, it's economical, I guess.
Pic #2- In the drunken college yahoo crowd- this is a warrior gone to Valhalla. Well done.
Pic #3- That's art- plain and simple.
SOoooooo,you guys tied the knot eh?
And in Vegas too you lucky dogs!
Oh, well, I guess emulating one out of three ain't bad...
*LOL*
that they might witness the epiphany of a deity."
I'm sure those three are going to have an epiphany
of some kind.
It must be nice to have friends too, I remember a rather
drunk afternoon in Vietnam when my two friends from NYC
got loaded, one passed out in the sand and the other built
a little bonfire on his chest. All in fun of course!
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