[url]http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20051226/drunkegypt_arc.html[/url]

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.

"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.



--
Happy Hogmanay!

Cheerful Charlie