CHAP. XV. RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS. 299 



through the streets, at the risk of throwing the 

 body off the bier, pretending that they were obHged, 

 by the irresistible will of the deceased, to visit a 

 certain mosk, or seek the blessing of a particular 

 saint. 



Few other processions of any great importance 

 are represented in the sculptures ; nor can it be 

 expected that the monuments would give more 

 than a small proportion of the numerous festivals, 

 or ceremonies, which took place in the country. 



RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS. 



Many of the religious festivals were indicative 

 of some peculiar attribute or supposed property of 

 the Deity in whose honour they were celebrated. 

 One, mentioned by Herodotus *, was emblematic of 

 the generative principle, and the same that appears 

 to be alluded to by Plutarch t under the name of 

 Paamylia, which he says bore a resemblance to 

 one of the Greek ceremonies. The assertion, 

 however, of these writers, that such figures be- 

 longed to Osiris, is contradicted by the sculptures, 

 which show them to have been emblematic of the 

 God Khem, or Pan ; and this is confirmed by 

 another observation of the latter writer, that the 

 leaf of the fig-tree represented the Deity of that 

 festival, as well as the land of Egypt.1: The tree 



* Herodot. ii. 48. Vide supra, Vol. I. (2cl Series) p. 343. 

 t Plut. de Is. s. II. 



j Plut. s. 36. According to the literal translation, it is " by the fi"-- 

 leaf they desa'ibc their king and the south climate of tJie world." 



