Egypt Diary Entry

Dear Journal,

     It’s my third day in Nile River Delta now, and I can’t believe how blessed and lucky I am to be here. To be alive while the New Kingdom is constantly thriving in growing is very compelling. This is what pushed me to leave the upper part of Egypt and explore my country. I wonder how my sister is doing in Mertz. I can’t imagine why she chose to be there instead of coming with me down to Lower Egypt. Hopefully I’ll be in contact with her soon.

     It’s been a slight adjustment moving from Mertz, but I’ve come to appreciate the atmosphere surrounding me. The Nile Valley has many separate tribes, each with their own local religion. However, through exploration I’ve come to realize the tribe I am apart of shares the same creation myth with neighboring tribes. They also know that the earth began with just the ocean, and then appeared an egg in the form of a flower that gave forth the Sun God. They understand the creation story as well as our practiced moral code; evil is punished and good is always triumphed.

     I began my day this morning by worshipping a local deity, Isis. I never forget to pray to the god of fertility and healing. Isis is an extremely important part of my tribe, however all the gods are strongly valued. Then I went to eat a meal and meet several of the new immigrants to our tribe. They have been worshipping many of our deities for their whole lives and knew much about the creation story, so we welcomed them with open arms. We feasted on roasted roots from the Nile, other vegetables and I tried raphanous for the first time, which had a similar taste to radishes. Banafrit, one of the women who helped cook this meal invited me to join her tomorrow to salt ducks and quail in preparation for the Opet Festival in Thebes coming up soon. I want to practice sacrificing the carcass to the gods, so I eagerly accepted Banafrit’s kind offer. After this I practiced the cleansing ritual down at the river then used my perfume oil I was given when I first arrived here.

Banafrit helped me yesterday to get my house in order. I found one that was already mostly built out of mud from the Nile, I just needed to add a bit of straw and cattle dung to support the walls and palm branches so I can be properly sheltered from the hot sun. The stone and lime floors are in great condition, and my sleeping chamber is well lighted from the small square windows. Primarily, I decorated the doorway and painted “the Good House” on my door as many other houses in my tribe have. I also have a room specifically for architecture. Today I purchase a lovely bed made of woven leather and a three-legged table for my kitchen. In a few days I will begin working with other tribe mates at the Valley of Kings, constructing future tombs for pharaohs and powerful nobles.

Banafrit is very beautiful. I suppose her name does mean beautiful soul. I hope to make her my wife one day. Several men around me have a few wives but I plan to just have one, unless someone else as magnificent as Banafrit catches my eye. In that case I always have the option of multiple female partners, it would just require expanding my house a little. She also helped me to purchase more woven linen clothing, as I only had two linen skirts and one kilt. The fabric is lovely. It’s woven from flax made at a farm walking distance from my house. I brought my long sheer robe from Mertz and was pleased to find many men around me wear one as well. I also picked out sandals for the Opet festival, although I will only ever wear something on my feet for events such as that. I was very grateful to Banafrit for repairing my necklace, so I plan to bring her a jar of wine today, a very valued gift in the Nile Valley.

     This evening I am joining Banafrit and a few other friends I have made to play board games at Hasani and Masika’s house. I assume we will first watch them play Senet, a game for married couples, then move on to a game including all of us. In preparation for this I’ve made several unique game pieces to bring and give to Hasani. I’ve heard Hasani is very talented with the banjo, so I anticipate a lot of song and dance is in store.

     Hasani was telling me earlier how he is possibly going to work on Ramesses IV, our current pharaoh’s new project. He is eager to join the work gangs who are going on expeditions to the turquoise mines. Ramesses is doubling his staff of workers for this mission as well as sending them to the stone quarries of Wadi Hammamat, but Hasani thinks the real fortune lies within the mines. Masika is supportive of this mission as well, and they both plan to approach Ramesses staff when they’re in Thebes for the Opet Festival. Ramesses IV is a much better pharaoh than his predecessor, Ramesses III. After Ramesses III was assassinated, most Egyptian’s had low spirits and worried about the economic turmoil he’d created. Ramesses IV was able to lift our spirits and slowly we began thriving again.

     I’m excited to become settled in here and begin working in the Valley of Kings. I believe here in the Nile Valley I’m able to create a legacy for myself by working on the tombs. I must go meet Banafrit now, I’ll write again in a few days!

-Adjo Monifa (Adjo means treasure, Monifa means lucky)