New Wine is upon us!
Sandstone stele from Ủgarit, depicting enthroned ʾEl receiving wine from a priest, with winged Sun above (National Museum of Aleppo)
The first major Festival of the Canaanite-Phoenician ritual calendar (or, at least, my interpretation thereof) has arrived. As the name would suggest, in ancient times this Festival commemorated the annual period of wine production following the grape harvest. Although it's often been assumed to have been an Autumnal holiday, closer examination has shown it to more likely align with a new year in the Spring.¹ The seven days of New Wine may naturally enough be observed with libations, with ʾEl as the primary Deity honored with the festival. For a recitation in my own offerings, I adapted a passage from the Baʿal epic narrating ʾEl's vision of Baʿal's resurrection, presented here with a theme of recognizing Baʿal's dominion as we are situated between His triumph in the Autumn and His death with the reign of Mot in the Summer:
As Supreme Baʿal lives,
As the Prince, the Lord of the Earth, reigns,
In the dream of Beneficent ʾEl, the Compassionate,
In the vision of the Creator of Creatures,
Let the heavens rain down oil,
Let the wadis run with honey!
By this we know Supreme Baʿal lives,
The Prince, the Lord of the Earth, reigns.
In the dream of Beneficent ʾEl, the Compassionate,
In the vision of the Creator of Creatures,
The Heavens rain down oil,
The wadis run with honey.
Beneficent ʾEl, the Compassionate, rejoices:
He lays His Feet on a footstool,
He breaks into a smile and laughs,
He lifts up His Voice and declares:
“Now I may sit down and rest;
“Now My Soul within My Breast may rest;
“As Supreme Baʿal lives,
“As the Prince, the Lord of the Earth, reigns!”
In the future, I'd like to put my versions of the rituals for the various Festivals up on here, seeing as I've just about made it through a full ritual year. That'd do a lot to make this seem like more of a true virtual temple, anywise. I've also thought of making in-depth posts on individual Deities and present refined editions of my takes on Ugaritic texts which I've shared in the past, but both of these will mean hitting the books for me. Shalom 𐤔𐤋𐤌 to you all throughout this new ritual year!
References
1. Cohen, Mark E. Calendars and Festivals of the Ancient Near East (2010), pp. 361–65.
