The usually sedate town of Abu Simbel was abuzz with Ramses fever as the sun's rays penetrated through the temple to illuminate the eternal king's face. Nevine El-Aref was there A crowd of over 4,000 people descended on Abu Simbel, 280km south of Aswan, on Monday and Tuesday to witness a phenomenon that only takes place twice a year, during the equinox. On February 22 and October 22 every year, the sun's rays travel through the temple of Ramses II to illuminate the eternal king's face. The visitors stayed awake all night waiting for sunrise, entertained by a musical troupe performing Nubian folkloric songs and dances. French tourist Françoise Hubert told Al-Ahram Weekly that the performance was "magnificent". Hubert was there with 200 of her colleagues from an NGO that was on a four-month tour of Mediterranean cities. Egypt was their third stop. The atmosphere was joyous in Abu Simbel, as hibiscus and tamarind drinks were being quaffed, along with stuffed dates served on large, coloured bamboo plates. The sounds of Nubian music filled the dry night air, as women, men, boys, and girls in colourful garb danced to the rhythm of the duf, a tambourine without bells. Archaeological chief inspector Ahmed Saleh said the celebrations take place every year, and that people from neighbouring villages and cities often flock to Abu Simbel to attend. According to Saleh, couples have even been known to plan their weddings on equinox day. One couple chose to have the wedding ceremony within the temple itself. Nearby, on the shores of Lake Nasser, on a wooden stage set up in front of the massive twin temples, a Pharaonic ballet choreographed by Cairo Opera House Director Abdel-Moneim Kamel and his wife Ermineya was being performed. At 3am, people began to reserve their seats at the foot of the monumental temple. At 6:25am, the sun struck the innermost wall of the temple's sanctuary, illuminating images of the right arm of the god Re- Horakhti, the face of king Ramses II, and the right shoulder of the god Amun-Re, leaving only the god Ptah in darkness. Twenty minutes later, the temple was dark again. Afterwards, a Dutch tourist told the Weekly that although the event was "a great phenomenon, it was also very tiresome, because people had to position themselves in a way that would not obstruct the sun's rays, and move quickly so that others could see too." The tourist said he had almost been too wrapped up in being careful that he was not able to see much, after waiting for three long hours for the event. Sabri Abdel-Aziz, who heads the Supreme Council of Antiquities' Ancient Egyptian Department, said people wrongly confuse the event with either Ramses II's coronation or birth, while it was actually a way the Ancient Egyptians identified the beginning of summer and winter in order to alert farmers to the start of the cultivation season and harvest. The two Abu Simbel temples were built by Ramses II (1279-1213 BC) to demonstrate his political clout and divine backing to the ancient Nubians. On each side of the temple, which was carved into a sandstone cliff overlooking the Nile's second cataract, sit a pair of colossal statues of Ramses. Though the statues have been damaged in earthquakes since their construction, they remain an awe-inspiring, tremendous sight. The temple is aligned to face the east, and above the entrance sits a niche with a representation of Re-Horakhti, an aspect of the sun god. In the early 1960s the entire temple was moved to higher ground, a task requiring considerable international engineering resources, when the High Dam caused Lake Nasser to rise and inundate the area. For this reason, the sun now strikes a day later than Ramses had originally planned, though the event itself is no less stunning.
