THE UAG-FEAST OF THE GREAT GOD OSIRIS

THE UAG-FEAST OF THE GREAT GOD OSIRIS (17/18 Tekhy) an introduction

[Sah (the Orion constellation), assimilated to the Great God Osiris, standing in His boat, wearing
the White Crown and holding the Uas-scepter of Power and Dominion in His left; to the left,
Horus Hryuadjef, Horus who is on His papyrus, in His form of sacred Falcon, wearing the
Double Crown, and representing the "Canis Minor" constellation.
Detail from the astronomical ceiling of the Hypostyle Hall of the Temple of Hathor at Iunet
(Dendera), upper register of the easternmost strip]

The Uag Feast is a solemn festivity (two-day festivity: XVII Tekhy, the Eve of the Uag Feast, and
XVIII Tekhy) in honor of Osiris as Lord of the Dead and Lord of Wine and Life connected with
the reappearance of Sah (Osiris as the Orion constellation, Sah, the husband of Sothis-Isis) in
the sky:
Osiris has come as Sah, Lord of wine in the Uag festival
(PT 442)
Osiris, He to Whom many shouts of joy are raised at the Uag festival
(from the Hymn to Osiris, on a tombstone of the XVIII Dynasty)
The text of the contracts of Hepdjefi (nomarch at Lycopolis during the XII dynasty) with the
priesthood of Upuaut and Anubis to ensure his needs in the afterlife, contains many informations
regarding the ritual celebrations and the offerings to the dead to be performed during the Uag
Feast:
on the eve of the Uag-feast, the great priest of Anubis brought forth a bale of torches, and,
heading his colleagues, they illuminated the statue of Hepdjefi in the temple court, while each
one of them at the same time laid a large white loaf at the feet of the statue. The procession
then passed out of the temple enclosure and wound through the streets chanting the
glorification of Hepdjefi till they reached another statue of him which stood at the foot of the
stairs leading up the cliff to his tomb. Here they found the chief of the desert patrol, or overseer
of the highland, where the necropolis was. Just returning from the magazines in the town,
having brought a jar of beer, a large loaf, five hundred flat cakes, and ten white loaves to be
delivered to Hepdjefis priest at the tomb above.
The next day, the eighteenth of the first month, the day of the Uag-feast, the priests of Upuaut in
the town each presented the usual large white loaf at Hepdjefis statue in their temple, followed
by an illumination of torches and glorification as they marched in procession around the
temple court (cfr. James Henry Breasted, "Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient
Egypt")
Contract which the count, the superior prophet, Hepdjefi, triumphant, made, with the official
body of the Temple (the Temple of Upuaut), to-wit:
There shall be given to him:
A wick in the first month of the first season, on the seventeenth day, the night of the Uag-feast.
()
A white loaf per each individual among them, for his statue, in the first month of the first season,
on the seventeenth day, the night of the Uag-feast.
()
There shall be given to him 1 jar of beer, 1 large loaf, 500 flat loaves, and 10 white loaves, for
his statue, (which is) in charge of his mortuary priest, in the first month of the first season, on the
seventeenth day, the night of the Uag-feast.
()

There shall be given to him bread and beer in the first month of the first season, on the
eighteenth day, the day of the Uag-feast.
()
A white loaf per each individual among them, for his statue, which is in the temple, in the first
month of the first season, on the eighteenth day, the day of the Uag-feast.
()
He shall give another wick in the first month of the first season on the eighteenth day, the day of
the Uag-feast, at the same time with the white bread, which they give to me per individual priest.
This wick shall be due from my mortuary priest when glorifying me, together with the lay priests.