Okay, I haven’t been completely honest with you guys. I saw the doctor a few weeks ago and I was assured that physical stress, not mental stress, makes my mono worse. (It is getting better.)
Oh, goodie. Does this mean I can get ticked off again? Because there’s been so much to get ticked off about: shootings, violence, death, discrimination, Donald Trump…ah, but I repeat myself to a certain extent.
Never mind, those are topics for another post. Today I am here to talk about Wesir’s Day, and why I am celebrating it this year.
This year I feel much closer to the Netjeru (the gods), and all my reminders — on both my Outlook and Google calendars — worked.
Actually, I had mapped out the entire Kemetic year over the regular year from the Kemetic New Year last year to this month. And according to that calculation, the New Year would fall on July 26. But this year being Leap Year, I wasn’t sure whether the observation of the rising of Sopdet (Sirius) would bear that out, so I had a choice: Did I want to go by the calculation this year or did I want to wrestle with Stellarium and remind myself what “heliacal” means again? The calculation was probably right — surely one year wouldn’t make that much difference in when Sopdet rose — but then again, this is Leap Year. The Kemetic New Year was July 26 last year; shouldn’t it be July 25 or 27 this year? So I pulled up the astronomy program (it’s such a pain; I might just go by the calculation next year) and it looks like Sirius is rising on July 26 again. Did I get it wrong last year? I don’t know, but I was careful, checking against the definition of “heliacal”, and July 26 appears to be correct. So I guess I’m not arguing with it.
When the Romans invaded ancient Egypt, they kept the calendar but added a sixth day to the Unyear every four years. There’s an argument to be made in favor of that approach just in terms of convenience. But whose birthday would I celebrate on the sixth day? There are questions to answer if I do it that way. Or maybe just treat the sixth day like I did the last day of the fourth month of Shemu (which was yesterday — in other words, I did nothing). Anyway, I have a year to figure it out.
For now, I’m just going to celebrate the Unyear and monitor my mental health, as usual (things can get crazy this time of year, so I need to be prepared).
To all my Kemetic followers, Happy Wesir’s Day! Are you doing anything to celebrate? Do you calculate the New Year to be on a different day for your locale? Do you have any other comments? Please leave them below.
Kemetic vs. Atheist 
I usually look at when Sirius becomes visible and then “ballpark it” to fall on a Friday or Saturday (so it can be more easily celebrated). yea…kinda lazy but…oh well! This year, I will celebrate Wep Ronpet on August 5th, and Wesir’s day (ironically) falls on August 1st, which is also Lammas. This year, I am going to try to celebrate the wheel of the year in a more Kemetic/locally relevant fashion (I’m starting to learn about Druidry), so I thought this bodes pretty well…even though I’ll be celebrating Wesir’s birth and Lammas is bread/harvest festival, I like to think of it as sort of a “sad foreshadowing”, but also a reminder of the cycles I feel Wesir represents.
I prep my calendar pretty similarly to you! I sit down about now and map it out, making changes and such as needed. I use the US Navy’s site, and it makes it pretty easy…and I *think* I’m doing it accurately. Because of these similarities, I really enjoyed this post.
Continue getting rest and give that mono the business! Dua Wesir!
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Keep in mind, the heliacal rising begins at a different time depending on what part of the globe you’re in! There even appears to be a difference for people who live on either side of North America. I have a star chart app somewhere that lets me figure it out, but I haven’t played with it in a while.
Since the Wep Ronpet season falls around the same time we started developing our tradition, my circle mates and I observe our version of Wep Ronpet on the same date each year (or as close to as possible), which is August 15 (our anniversary, as well as the Flooding of the Nile festival in contemporary Egypt). We usually go camping, and I like to go on a “computer fast” for at least part of the month. (I’m thinking about going for all of August this year, but I don’t know if I can do it!) I also love it that we get all kinds of crazy thunderstorms this time of year. Sutekh is Mighty!
But, I guess it’s really the entire time from late July to early September that feels holy, not just any particular date. This has become my favorite time of year as I’ve grown older.
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I didn’t realize the Flooding of the Nile was still celebrated, much less that it was on August 15. Interesting. Thanks for enlightening me!
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Yup. The call it Wafaa el-Nil!
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