Through the Eras

DanceDANCE CAPTIONS FROM THE TOMB OFWATETKHETHORINTRODUCTION: These captions add an abbreviated explanationto the drawing of 31 figures executingthe tjeref dance in the Tomb of Watetkhethor inSaqqara. Watetkhethor was a royal princess, daughterof King Teti (2350–2338 B.C.E.) and wife of theprime minister, Mereruka. Watetkhethor was also apriestess of Hathor—a goddess associated withdance—which might explain why she devoted onewhole wall of her tomb to a dance scene. Thekhener, a professional music and dance troupe, performedthe tjeref dance at the end of the funeral.The dance recapitulated the major components ofthe funeral. The captions give some clues as to therelationship between the dance and a funeral, butare very abbreviated due to the limitations of spaceon the wall. They are divided by horizontal linesinto five spaces called registers.Register One“I am clapping; I am clapping; Hey! A quickcrossing; Hey! The movement is hidden; Hey! Themovement is golden.”Register TwoHey! The matjerut-priestess is in charge of it; Shecomes, she comes; Tenet is the matjerut-priestess.Hey! The beautiful one is taken … by?; Hey! I unite(with you); Hey! All pavilions (of/and) the audiencehall;”Register Three“Hey! You praise the Festival of Birth; Quick,quick; It is the same thing; O, Quartet, come andpull; Hey, the secrets of the harem; Hey, recitation ofthe private rooms; Hey, a gesture of supplication.”Register Five“May she give the arm … may she give the secret… tomb; Go people of …”SOURCE: Jonathan Van Lepp, “The Dance Scene of Watetkhethor:An Art Historical Approach to the Role ofDance in Old Kingdom Funerary Ritual” (master’s thesis,University of California at Los Angeles, 1987): 44. Textmodified by Edward Bleiberg.who performed the muu-dance impersonated theguardians at the entrance to the land of the dead andthe ferrymen who conducted the boat carrying the sarcophagusto the land of the dead. The muu-dance furtherrepresented the symbolic journey to Buto, a cityassociated with Osiris, the god of the Afterlife. TheEgyptians believed that a pilgrimage to Buto was thefirst stage of the journey to the land of the dead. Finally,the muu-dancers pulled the sledge—a sled thattravels on sand—containing the mummy, the canopicjars used to store the mummified organs, and thetekenu—the placenta of the deceased. The text of thefirst register refers to the Egyptians’ wish for a quickpassage across the sky, the hidden movements of the funeral,and the pulling of the sledge. The text also alludesto gold at this point, which probably refers to thesun and its journey across the sky, which the deceasedjoined. The Egyptologist Jonathan Van Lepp suggestsconvincingly that the movement accompanying thiscaption is a gesture that allows the dancers to form thehieroglyphic sign for gold. This attempt to imitate writingthrough movement is also used in modern Egyptianfolk dance where the dancers imitate Arabiccalligraphy in their poses. The dancers use this techniquein other parts of the dance.ARRIVAL. Register two symbolizes the deceased arrivingon the west bank of the Nile river, the land traditionallyviewed as the necropolis or “city of the dead.”Here the text asks the funeral priestess called the matjerutto protect the ka statue that will act as a home forthe soul. The dancers form a circle that represents thecircuit the sun follows through the sky of the living andunder the earth in the land of the dead.REBIRTH. Register three depicts the festival of rebirththat priests celebrated at the House of Purification.They probably recited “The Lamentations of Isisand Nepthys” at this point in the funeral, a secret textmourning the death and anticipating the rebirth ofOsiris, god of the dead. The inscription suggests thatthis portion of the funeral was kept secret from the majorityof the participants. Only the priests were admittedto the House of Purification. The ceremonyconsisted of symbolically washing the newly born spiritwith water. Pyramid Texts 2063a to 2067b, a liturgy ofwashing, seems to describe this process. In this part ofthe ceremony, the Egyptians expressed their belief thatbirth and death are nearly equivalent. The inscriptioncalls this the “secrets of the harem” or the women’s quarters.These secrets include the mystery of birth and thusalso the mystery of rebirth into the next world. TheEgyptians viewed this part of the ceremony as the rebirthinto the afterlife and thus an intimate part of theworld of women. The dancers form the hieroglyph forakhet, the “horizon,” which symbolizes the daily rebirthand death of the sun. The greeting to the “quartet,”which follows in the inscription, refers to the four sons74 Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.)