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Festival of Opet
The Festival of Opet, celebrated in Luxor, was one of the most important ancient festivals of Egypt. Every year, the celebration of the Opet was reaching its climax when the god Amón was taken in a procession up to the Luxor temple. Symbolically, there the god was completing its marriage and the Pharaoh was born.
The procession was leading to the sacred boats from its temple of Karnak up to the temple of Luxor and vice versa. The ceremony was beginning when there was moving back the sacred image of the chapels of Karnak and was placed inside a small cockpit that later would be moved in the ritual boat. The priests were loading it on its shoulders and were moving it up to the exterior of the temple. The way there of Karnak was done to Luxor by ground, while the return was done by the Nile. In the terrestrial trip, there was crossed the whole avenue of sphinxes that was joining both temples. Finally, two trips ended up by being done by the river.
The whole Tebas people was taking part in the ceremony. They were dressing themselves in its best finery and were making the most of the opportunity to see the sacred boats, although they could not identify the statues of the gods who were in its interior. At present, some crafts sail along the Nile to recall that festival of the Pharaonic Egypt.
