RITUAL RACE
RITUAL RACE
1. Racing is ancient ceremonies held at the king’s coronation ceremonies.
2. The Heb Thirst was a festival normally celebrated by the thirty-year reign, which was aimed at renewing the power of the monarch and regenerating its energy and power to rule and to continue the covenant between humans and the divinities of which it was guarantor. The liturgy held at the coronation ceremony was repeated, to symbolically return to the monarch to the state he was in when he accessed the throne. Consequently, races were also held in the jubilee.
3. Racing object was double. On one hand, point out the king’s internal protection over the entire country. On the other hand, warn foreign enemies that those imaginary boundaries established in the race were protected.
4. It’s possible that some of these races were real, but mostly they were rituals. No one can imagine, by setting an example, Ay or Ramses I, running around the delimited space for the ritual of their coronation ceremony. I also can’t imagine Amenhotep III running in any of his three Heb Seb. However, if I can imagine Amenhotep II running and throwing the arrows at his throne access ceremonial.
5. It doesn’t seem insane to think that the king would delegate to a person the actions they physically were impossible to perform for him. That delegation actually proceeded smoothly in performing the rites of daily worship. However, I believe that responsibility would lie with a very relevant person, such as the successor, the corgent, if any; a royal prince or a noble close to the king.
6. In different representations I have been able to identify 41 objects in the hands of Pharaoh when he is running. I’ve tried to find unsuccessfully patterns on choosing those objects. Just because I haven’t been able to find them, doesn’t mean I think they’re random or abandoned to the master sculptor’s judgement.
7. To finish I leave you a photo of Jeperkara Senusert, better known as Sesostris I, which we have surprised in the full ritual race against the very itifalic god Min.
The king carries a paddle on his right hand, while on the left shows us a symbol Gardiner (Aa 5) tells us that ′′ part of the boats governing mechanism “, so in this case there is a unequivocal reference to navigational reasons.
Behind the monarch have been represented the three mounds representing the limits of the governed lands; two Shen rings, supporting two ′′ half heavens ′′ (sorry for calling them that) that I can’t find anyone to explain their meaning to me, but that to me my suggest an idea of eternity, immutable and lasting as long as the celestial vault exists; to end up proclaiming that the king is protected and surrounded by all life.
