Birthdays in Ancient Egypt

My birthday is soon, so let’s talk about birthdays in ancient Egypt 𓆎𓅓𓏏𓊖!

This picture 𓏏𓅱𓏏 is from my last trip to the MET, when I just got to sit and hang out in one of my absolute favorite places – The Temple of Dendur! The temple 𓉟𓏏𓉐 was actually commissioned by Augustus 𓉐𓉻𓀀 (first emperor of Rome) and the temple 𓉟𓏏𓉐 was primarily used to worship 𓇼𓄿𓀢 the goddess 𓊹𓏏 Isis 𓊨𓏏𓁥.

The ancient Egyptians didn’t celebrate the birthdays of regular people – they celebrated the birthdays of the gods 𓊹𓊹𓊹 and goddesses 𓊹𓊹𓊹𓏏! The 365-day calendar which is one of the ancient Egyptians’ long lasting contributions to the world! Egyptian astronomers even adjusted the year to be exactly 365.25 days when their calculations got more accurate! 

The Egyptian calendar consisted of 12 𓎆𓏻 months that were each 30 𓎆𓎆𓎆 days long. The extra five 𓏾 days left over at the end of the year were festival days – each day dedicated to celebrating the birthday of a different deity 𓊹! 

Day 1 was the Birthday of Osiris 𓁹𓊨𓀭

Day 2 was the Birthday of Horus 𓅃𓀭

Day 3 was the Birthday of Seth 𓊃𓏏𓄡𓁣

Day 4 was the Birthday of Isis 𓊨𓏏𓁥

Day 5 was the Birthday of Nephthys 𓉠𓏏𓆇

So how do we write “birthday” in hieroglyphs 𓊹𓌃𓏪? Let’s use Osiris 𓁹𓊨𓀭 as an example: 𓄟𓋴𓅱𓏏𓁹𓊨𓀭𓎱 or 𓄟𓏏𓁹𓊨𓀭𓎱. 

Let’s break it down: 𓄟𓋴𓅱𓏏/𓄟𓏏 is the word for “birth” and both are pronounced “mswt.” In the case of  “𓄟𓋴𓅱𓏏,” this is what we call a “phonetic complement” – the sounds are written twice but pronounced once!

The “alabaster basin 𓎱” symbol is a determinative for “feast” or “festival” but can also be an ideogram for “heb” (feast). 

So if I wanted to write out my own birthday, it would look like this: 𓄟𓋴𓅱𓏏𓈖𓇋𓎡𓍯𓃭𓁐𓎱. You can do the same with your own – just replace my name 𓂋𓈖 with your name 𓂋𓈖! 

A big thank you 𓋴𓏏𓍯𓄿𓀢 to the UCL website for the list of the festival days!! Check out their website for incredible information about ancient Egypt 𓆎𓅓𓏏𓊖!

This is my personal photograph and original text. DO NOT repost without permission.