Fragments from the Vault #001: Opet Festival, Karnak

Welcome to Fragments from the Vault, a new series on Fetch Quest Journeys recounting some of the most emotionally resonant experiences in gaming. 

We travel to ancient Egypt for the Opet Festival, Karnak

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Game: Assassin's Creed Origins

Location: Karnak, Luxor, Egypt

More information: Karnak | Assassin's Creed Wiki | Fandom

Thebes during Opet. Photo credit: FetchQuester

"On this day in the second month of our lunar calendar, we celebrate Opet in honour of Amun, Mut, and Khons. 

As their barque is borne along the grand promenades of Thebes to the Temple of Luxor, the city will revel in festivities for nearly a month before returning the deities to their shrines at Karnak in the gleam of our gilded sun.

The revered barque. Photo credit: FetchQuester

 Abundant offerings. Photo credit: FetchQuester

As this homage materializes with the renewed bounty of their fertility, we give our reverence to the marriage of divine and earthly, watching day fall into night as the Temple's storied pillars blaze in heat-cast hues beneath the stars and their moon-cloaked mountains. I submit to the calm that comes from the swath of a joyous cycle, full and serene, blessed to live and breathe in this lifetime."

The Temple at Karnak. Photo credit: FetchQuester

- Lucy A.

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Sources: 

Assassin's Creed Origins (Ubisoft Montréal/Ubisoft); fandom.com; A Global History of Architecture Part 1 @ MIT via edx

*A special thanks to Prof. Mark Jarzombek who introduced me to the wonder of Karnak, and to Mia, who told me of the festival in Origins.