Beautiful Festival of the Valley
beautiful festival valley egyptian heb nefer en inet arabic عيد الوادي الجميل romanized eid alwadi aljamil ancient egyptian festival celebrated annually thebe luxor middle kingdom period later sacred barque wind deity amunre consort mut son khensu left temple karnak order visit funerary temple deceased royalty west bank shrine theban necropolis beautiful festival valley heb nefer en inet egyptian celebration dead could ancient opet festival traced back middle kingdom said held remembrance dead beginning middle kingdom however joined festival opet holy procession became main event liturgical calendar thebe annual festival held new moon month two harvesting season shemu th month calendar hatshepsuts reign carried opet beautiful festival valley amun grand procession start festival could go several day colourful joyous occasion people thebe procession would led amun east rising sun new life direction living west setting sun land dead statue picture amun decorated broad collar sun disk would led priest nile ceremonial boat barque barque would placed ship known userhet covered gold precious material userhet would followed boat mut khonsu form theban triad procession proceeded temple million year king townspeople would sacrifice food drink well flower flotilla boat great quantity flower would presented believed egyptian culture flower became filled essence deity townspeople took flower relative tomb pay respect ensure revival deceased spirit would drink sleep deceased tomb different level consciousness blessed dead brought closer god amun shrine brought djoserdjoseru reaffirm bond king god king people davy v friedman r egypt british museum press strudwick n strudwick k thebe egypt cornell university press