Hello, welcome to a history of Egypt podcast mini-episode, Festivities of Heat.

This is part six and seven in our 12-month look at the Egyptian religious year.

This time, it's a one-two punch of months which were connected with one another,

both in their name and in the fact that their major festivals overlapped.

I could pretend that that was planned, but I won't lie to you.

In the rush to complete the Syrian Tales episodes and the Mammoth Project, which ended up being

episode 79, the mini episodes went on the back burner.

How fortuitous for me that month six and seven are actually better when described together.

So let's just pretend that was planned.

I am very organised.

Now then, month number six.

Month six went by a number of different names which changed over time.

In earlier times it was called the month of Pa Ni Mecher, or the one of the basket.

In the new kingdom, it was called Reke-Wer, or the Great Heat. This is odd because the sixth month was actually in the middle of Egypt's winter. This discrepancy was a leftover

from the very ancient days when the Egyptians had used a lunar calendar. So the months of heat, six and seven, were actually

located in their winter. Once upon a time, they'd been in their summer. Month six and

month seven were the second and third months of the season of Peret. Peret, or coming forth, was the

planting and farming season. At this time, Egyptian

farmers were out in the fields, cultivating their grains. Accordingly, these months were

light on popular festivals, festivals for the common folk. Instead, they had just a few

elite festivals. In other words, this was a time for festivals that were mostly celebrated in the temples

by a select few.

...