The Min festival was an ancient Egyptian ceremony to celebrate the continued rule of the Pharaoh. The procession of Min dates back to Predynastic Egypt and was still very popular during the 19th Dynasty reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II.
The festival scenes of Usermaatre Meryamun Ramesses III at his funerary temple on the West Bank, now best known as Medinet Habu, are an excellent example of the Min Festival. Compared to most other temples, the wall pigment is exceptionally well preserved. It gives an idea of how colourful the temples of ancient Kemet once were and indicates the people’s complexion.
Studying the temple’s reliefs in Medinet Habu allows us to classify six festival episodes. At the dawn of the day of the new moon, a procession went out of the palace and headed to the temple, from which priests brought out the statue of Min — then, they went to the sanctuary. In the evening, there was the rite of setting a statue of the god on the pedestal; the king came into the sanctuary to hold a ceremony of sacrifice and cutting a bundle; then, he left the sanctuary and circumambulated it. At dawn of the second day of the lunar month, the rite of setting the supporting pole of the sanctuary-sHnt took place. After that, there were coronation ceremonies for the ruler, shooting four arrows to the sides of the world and releasing four birds.
Min Festival in Ancient Egyptian Calendar
The festival is related to the king’s worship and was held in the last month of summer. The procession of the ancient fertility god Min was celebrated during the first month of the Shemu season.
According to the lunar calendar, the Min festival also occurred at the beginning of a new season in the ninth civil month.
Procession of Min Festival
The king led the procession of Min, followed by his wife, the royal family, and the court. When the king entered the sanctuary of the deity Min, he brought offerings and burning incense. Then, twenty-two priests carried the temple’s standing god out on a shield. In front of the god’s statue, the priests also placed two small-seated statues of the Pharaoh.
A sizeable ceremonial procession in front of the god Min included dancers and priests. In front of them was a king with a white bull wearing a solar disc between its horns. When the god arrived at the end of the procession, he was given sacrificial offerings from the Pharaoh.
Fertility and Harvest
In this festival of Min, the king cut the first sheaf of grain. It symbolically supported his role as a life-sustainer of his people. This festival, associated with Min, was fecundity and the masculinity of rebirth. Therefore, this third festival focuses on birth, predominating the agricultural aspect.
The central rite of the festival was set a statue of the god on the stepped pedestal, a symbol of the initial hill or garden. The festival’s purpose was to renovate the authority and power of the ruling king, which made it close to the Heb Sed. The symbolism of the festival rituals was also associated with the myth of the daily navigation of the solar god along the heavens, with the sunset on the western horizon and the resurrection at sunrise. Another aspect of the festival was connected to the funeral cult, with the concepts of death and resurrection of a deceased in the afterworld. In that sense, the festival was attached to the Osiriac festivals of the month of Hoiak.
References to Min Festival
The cult of Min, the god of fertility and harvest, has been known since the predynastic period. Centres of Min veneration were located in Qift and Akhmim (Panopolis), where festivals of that god took place. On the Palermo Stone (mid-V dynasty), the festival of mswt Mnw (‘birth’ or ‘creation of the statue of Min’) is mentioned. Possibly, it was identified with the later festival of prt Mnw (‘Min Coming’), celebrated on the new moon of the month of Pakhon (the first month of the season of harvesting). The most detailed description of the festival can be found in reliefs of the Theban temples of Ramesses II in the Ramesseum (XIX dynasty) and Ramesses III in Medinet Habu (XX dynasty). There is another name for the festival in the texts commenting on the scenes: ‘Coming of Min to xtyw’ (prt Mnw r xtyw).
