Egyptian Harvest Festivals
The ancient Egyptians were always ready to party and celebrate. In fact almost all the days in the year they seemed to be celebrating something or a god.
In ancient Egypt, crop failures and the resulting famine are suspected as being at least in part the cause of several intermediate periods of governmental collapse between strong dynasties. Good harvests were a source of pride and bragging rights by kings who could take considerable credit for the good fortune because the gods were pleased with his deeds.
The start of the harvest in ancient Egypt involved celebrations in honor of Min, which were often opened by the king himself, who reaped the first ears of grain with a sickle. This was the month of Shemou (harvest), and a statue of Min, represented as an ityphallic god of fertility in iconography, was placed on an inclined pedestal, which was the symbol of Ma’at (the goddess if truth and justice). This pedestal represented the primordial mountain, a symbol of resurrection, renewal, and rebirth. During the processional honoring Min, songs were sung and ritual dances were performed. Many festivals around the land honor the harvest.
Heqet, goddess of childbirth was also associated with grain germination while Renenutet was also a goddess of grain, as well as a fertility goddess. Isis, who caused Osiris to rise after his death, was closely associated with the harvest festivals for she was seen as the reviver of the grain who caused it to sprout.
http://unusualhistoricals.blogspot.com/2007/12/holidays-celebrations-egyptian-harvest.html
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