In the New Kingdom, during the night of the 25th in the 26th of Khoiak, takes place the ntryt festival. On this occasion, the exercise of the divine cult on the west bank at Thebes is turned toward the restoration of the powers of the mummified Sokar-Osiris and is placed in his tomb, before the great procession of the hnw-barque on the 26th of Khoiak in the temples of millions of years and the necropolis. Associated with these manifestations, the private tombs are the scene of certain activities concerned with private funerary worship. During the evening of the 25th of Khoiak, the priests of the ka, or the family of the Theban deceased, make libations and fumigations in the chapels of the tombs. During the night and until the dawn, these living persons compose necklaces of onions simply tied around their neck and carried out artistically assemblies of onions are bound into a bundle, crowned with a handle, which is offered to Sokar and the deceased of the west bank. This meeting between the plant world, the onions, and the animal world, the Sokar falcon, is the outcome of a Sokarian liturgy organised in Thebes from the beginning of the month of Khoiak. The relation between the Sokar falcon and the onions is thus established on the nights of the 25th to the 26th of Khoiak, corresponding in the Gregorian calendar at the nights of the 29th to the 30th of October. This meeting was announced on the day of the 25th of Khoiak at the time of the deceased's journey, assimilated by Osiris, on board of the nsmt-barque, towards Abydos. On this occasion, the enemies of Sokar-Osiris have been potentially wiped out. In other words, the justified god triumphed over his enemies. Thus, the night of the 25th in the 26th of Khoiak, the powers of the mummified Sokar-Osiris can be restored. After the mummy's transportation toward his tomb, materialised by a procession and a journey reminders of the god's progress toward Peker in Abydos different funeral rituals are accomplished. It is the prelude to the god's victory on the 26th of Khoiak because the possession of his soul is given back to Sokar during this night. The calendar of Medinet Habu indicates that it concerns the "fourth month of the akhet-season, the 25th day, the day of the ntryt-festival: to dedicate to Ptah-Sokar-Osiris who resides in the temple of User-Ma'at-Re-Mery in the domain of Amon to the west of Thebes, the offering of festival on this day". No indication is given of the hour of intervention and even less on the significance of the term ntryt. However, the tombs deprived of the west bank, gladly keep the expression of "to tie necklaces of onions on the divine night" or the "divine morning" and of "to follow Sokar with onions around the neck". And it is permitted to affirm some elements, according to the numerous attestations in the homes of eternity. Stelae, statuary of individuals, funeral cones, sarcophaguses offer some evidential mention to those of the Theban tombs. The living tie necklaces of onions and manufacture bundles of onions with handles to be ready to make the tour of the walls with Sokar in his hnw-barque on the 26th in the morning. The onions sowed at the end of the month of September are thus picked on the 25th of Khoiak, or October 29th. The significance of this act is bound with the definition of the ntryt celebration. The term ntryt has been interpreted by G.A. Gaballa and K.A. Kitchen who keep the value of the substantive ntrt "goddess" in the form of the dual ntryt to make "the festival of the two goddesses", or the one of the adjectival substantive to translate it as "divinisation". We prefer to see in this term the explanation of the succession of the diurnal and nocturnal acts for the period going into the evening from Khoiak 23rd to the 26th in the morning The day preceding the night of the last phase of the waning moon, Khoiak 23rd, different acts (unction, libation, purification) lead to the embalming of Osiris recovering his real appearance. The night of the 23rd to the 24th of Khoiak, the ritual of the Opening of the Mouth is read in its entirety at the time of the great funerary vigil. The day of Khoiak 24th is turned entirely toward the mummy's protection. The night of the 24th to the 25th Khoiak, a procession followed by a journey translates the mummy's transportation toward his tomb, while an abstract of the ritual of the Opening of the Mouth is uttered. The day of Khoiak 25th, the nsmt-barque sails towards Abydos. In this sense, the ntryt celebration would designate the nocturnal phase during which the deceased assimilated in Sokar is made divine, his mummification having permitted the resumption of the vital faculty on a support whose flesh has been reconstituted. The term ntryt becomes the designation of the point of outcome of this recuperation of the mental and physical faculties before the proclamation of the results just before Khoiak 26th: Sokar-Osiris dismembered becomes a solar Osiris. Moreover, D. Meeks recalled that the verb ntry "to become divine" (in the necropolis), while speaking about the body or Ba, is a current expression with the New Kingdom. This mutation is achieved naturally by the ritual of the Opening of the Mouth, which allows Osiris to recover his senses and find a final expression in the resumption of the heart, the organ mentioned at the time of the exit of Sokar on Khoiak 26th, then invited to consume a meal indicated in the form "to bring the god's heart to the god". The tomb of Nebsumenu associates this form maybe to the justification of the deceased Nebsumenu sees his heart being restored to him after the judgement and is led by Thoth toward Osiris-Sokar, "the great god of the Duat". The significance of this "divine night", the moment of astralisation of the deceased implemented by Sokar, would thus widen. The onions intervene here in order to clean and to purify the mouth, in other words, to illuminate the deceased's face. Besides, the onions are assimilated by the teeth of the Former Deceased Osiris destined to become a New Infant Horus. Already, in the Pyramid Texts (§35 a, 79 a and b), the onions serve as a determinative for the teeth of Horus. Much later, the Papyrus of Orbiney determines the onion by the sign of the tooth. Between these two poles, chapter 936 of the Coffin Texts gives: "Five onion bulbs, Osiris N. who is here, I bring you your white teeth, become fresh. That your face is more illuminated !". These five onion bulbs are found in the tables of offerings associated with the opening of the mouth, without which, it is always possible, according to the iconography of the tombs, to affirm that the bundles of onions of Khoiak 25th are formed in multiples of five bulbs. The number five could, however, evoke the opening the two eyes, the two ears and the mouth. At the moment when the onions intervene by the action of Sokar in the ritual of the Opening of the Mouth, the vital breath is not offered yet to the nostrils of the dead and the deceased doesn't yet breathe. The necklaces of onions of the ntryt-night, presented to the deceased by the living while Sokar receives bundles of this same plant, are going to permit him to acquire this breath of life. The seven openings are achieved henceforth completely, definitely giving life and completing the creation of the five openings associated to the five onions. Besides, Chapter 936 of the Coffin Texts shows the frequent word game between hd "light" and hdw "anoint" mentioned already (stela of the Glyptothèque Ny Carlsberg). But hdw also designates the "two parts of the lower jaw" with the other Osirian relics from the nome of EI-Kab (third nome of Upper Egypt). And these two jaws are open at the time of the ritual of the Opening of the Mouth with the pss-kf knife taking on the form of two united jaws. Sk r "to clean the mouth" (to purify him) would therefore be a preliminary act of the ritual of the Opening of the Mouth and would become indispensable to the resumption of a solar heart. The Chapter 172 of the Book of the Dead would appear in this context: "You chew the onion for fear of your heart". The onion appears as the guarantee of the maintenance of a heart protecting the deceased. Besides, some Theban tombs mention an offering of four plants to the deceased: the s3rt-plant (not identified), the sspt or cucumber, the smsmt being possibly cannabis and the sjwt-rushes. According to the tomb of Neferhotep, the ssptt-plant grows thanks to Ptah, the smsmt-plant was created by Re, the first and the last resulting simply from a garden. If one adds to this group the onions of Sokar quoted in this same context, we are in presence of a wp r vegetable, of four plants completed by the action of the hdw-onions, these different plants integrating the action of Sokar on the deceased into the entire universe. Between the plants of Ptah and those of Re, the onions unite soil with the sky to the profit of Osiris perhaps evoked by the "gardens" within this setting of Khoiak. In this context, the pilgrimage to Abydos on Khoiak 25th on board of the nsmt-barque successfully leads to the exit of the hnw-barque on Khoiak 26th, this taking the place of the nsmt-barque to assure after the justification a total solar rebirth. The solar triumph had therefore been prepared already in the day of the 25th. The transition between the 25th and 26th of Khoiak had been fully achieved during the ntryt-night according to the famous tomb of Khabekhnet at Deir el-Medineh. Tefnut is associated with Sokar, thus playing the role of Shu in this instance. This divine couple receive three bundles of onions. Or, Tefnut and Shu already intervened in the protection organised in Abydos for the nsmt-barque on Khoiak 25th and the divine couple identify them for this day, then for nrtyt-night. By being associated with the ceremony in Abydos, they have been justified and benefit from the grant of the solar heart (the onions). Sokar can thus replace Shu by being able to breath, constituting the final act of the Opening of the Mouth. The representation in the tomb of Inherkhau at Deir el-Medineh goes in the same manner: the deceased, holding the shm-scepter reflecting a power acquired recently seems to be seated at a table in front of three bundles of onions; it deals with the barque assuring the pilgrimage to Abydos; the nrtyt-night is thus evoked in an Abydenien context by the presence of onions, which guarantee the justification and the deceased's protection before preceding to a solar rebirth. The onions constitute the first phase of resurrection of the body of any Osiris. They intervene in a transitional period, before the engenderment of a new god, represented on the Earth by the king, on Khoiak 26th. The transition corresponds to the justification of king Osiris-Sokar on board of the nsmt-barque in Abydos, the place where the head (Abydenien relic, seat of the royal uraeus, manifestation of Re) is attached to the body of Osiris-Sokar. Thus, on Khoiak 26th, king Sokar-Osiris or the Ancient One can become the New Horus, "the one whose right eye is the sun and the left the moon". This second phase of resurrection proclaims a king identified to the creator guarantor of the maintenance of creation and its two cycles, diurnal and nocturnal. Moreover, the 26th of Khoiak corresponds roughly to Orion's entry of its 90 days of visibility in the west. The "night of onions" announcing a return of sunlight can lead to the procession of the hnw-barque, whose hull is skin of antelope, protects the lunar eye in the temples of millions of years. The barque of triumph, intended to overcome all the obstacles of a defined course, carries at the prow the swallow-falcons on their migratory course in this way. They will return in free flight as the role of the hnw-barque ends: their departure has been announced by the seedling of onions, their return will be associated with the celebrations of the festival of Bastet. The hnw-barque is also associated with the the flight of the bird of death. It is while appearing in the form of a falcon that dead escapes the net, in other words, to the sand bank of Apophis which hinders the progression of the solar barque in the Duat. It can thus associate the Theban individuals to this triumph. While purifying the participants, the onions protect them from 3hw, "injury", and prepare them for this event. While being linked to the return of the hd, "light", the hdw-onions are affirm themselves more than ever as anti-serpents against Apophis, enemy of the sun. In this sense, they would be opposed to the net intercepting Osiris during his ascension toward the star and would guarantee his solar rebirth. The agrarian calendar perfectly defines the liturgy: the onions planted at the end of September and picked at the end of October are heralding the arrival of the light and are going to be transplanted in the land to be ready to be chewed at the time of the festival of Bastet, February 5th, as all snakes come out of their hibernation and when the swallows begin to return announcing the summer sun. The small onions, early fruits and vegetables, inhaled to receive a new breath at the time of the ntryt-night, having germinated during the winter period, become witnesses to a source of rebirth to a chthonian life, with the image of a living Sokar in a cave and carrying the solar star in the Duat. The solarisation or light created the 25th and 26th of Khoiak leads to a stellar design (or darkness with appearance of the constellation of Orion). The festival of Bastet, at the end of the Sokarian cycle, becomes a "anti-serpent" festival and according to a stela of Ramesses IV in Abydos, naturally, he is prohibited from hunting the lion that day. With the New Kingdom, Thebes proposes a junction therefore between Horus, cosmic manifestation of the solar rebirth, and Osiris-Sokar, becoming the chthonic principle chthonien of the richnesses of the land. The onions are the vector of this meeting. The starting point of this junction is Sokar, whose hieracocephile image or the skin of the barque belong to the animal world. As a sort of theological tool intervening in any transitional stage, the action of Sokar rests in part on the plant world: the onions were retained to become his means of action during one night of the year. These onions are thus effective only within the astronomical framework which corresponds to the moment when the ground and the sun must redefine relations with the approach of the end of the year and New Year's day, always dangerous periods for cosmic balance. The plant is unique among the Liliaceae. It is the only one which grows equally under the soil, on it and above it. It thus evokes perfectly the capacities of Sokar, to be a chthonien inhabitant in the Duat, but intervening in the sudden appearance of the "First Time" and often taking the celestial form of a falcon. This vertical progression has the advantage to intervene at all levels of the universe in order to maintain cosmogony. Below, the onions drive away the snakes, emissaries of Apophis, who stop the solar barque from progressing in the Duat at the time of the nocturnal journey of the sun. In the world of men, the onion will be guarantor of light to facilitating the ascension of the hnw-barque, on Khoiak 26th, toward the celestial spheres where the Sokar falcon deploys his action of guide at the side of Re-Horakhty, at the front of the solar barque. The onions join the sub-soil to the sky, the dry and the shade to light and are rot-proof. Their stem of bulblets permits this upward fashion. They are the product as much as the sign of a solar creation and remain an elaborate intermediary so that Sokar can carry through his action as guarantor of the cosmogony, they are "an instrument", a support, in the strong sense of the divine. But the procession of the hnw-barque on Khoiak 26th becomes one of the keys to the revival of the new year, while recalling the time of the original creation of the light. The onions, as mediators, are not sufficient anymore in the long term to perform the divine action of creation. It is necessary to return to the world of the gods while calling on the zoomorphic world: five geese organised the 26th of Khoiak in order to complete the action of Sokar and his onions. With the New Kingdom, Ptah is clearly the power of growth of the land and is as such Ptah-Tatenen. This god appears with functions related primarily to the land and the primordial waters. Thus, Ptah-Tatenen and Sokar become at this time the two complementary states of a same divine principle: Tatenen is the land which rises up creating a surface, thus translating the appearance of it at the "First Time", Sokar is the cosmic principle permitting to for Geb to appear above the surface of ground. Simultaneously, the Sokar-Osiris relationship develops the theme of solarisation and, on the one hand, affirms the equation between resuscitated Sokar and the rising sun, and, on the other, between Sokar, the nocturnal form of the sun, and Osiris. The new epithet "small sun" is the translation. The onions of Sokar would play a fundamental part in the resurrection of Osiris, with the installation of a sudden luminous appearance of the ground, the place where all the justified deceased will be born again. On this hillock, the creator, when he appears, and the deceased meet, he (the creator) becomes actors in his funeral environment. While proposing a new jw-nsrsr, "island of fire", Thebes properly affirms itself as the Heliopolis of the South, to the New Kingdom.
©Thierry BENDERITTER, 2003 |