Author Topic: The Ancient Egyptian Daybook: Finally, a calendar for Kemetics! (Read 11498 times)

Bastemhet · « **on:** February 21, 2013, 09:40:43 am »

So check it out guys, Tamara Siuda has created a calendar that will include a blank perpetual calendar so that you can calibrate it to your liking. She has it up as a Kickstarter project,which means she had to get a certain amount of donations in order to make this dream a reality. So far she's already reached her goal (and you can still pledge certain amounts to be one of the first to get the calendars), but there are stretch goals that include a mobile app that I'm really excited about. If this sounds interesting to you guys, I encourage you to pledge any amount (and certain amounts come with the book itself once it's published).

Here's the link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tsiuda/the-ancient-egyptian-daybook

Setnakht · « **Reply #1 on:** February 23, 2013, 01:04:57 pm »

Quote from: Bastemhet;97330

So check it out guys, Tamara Siuda has created a calendar that will include a blank perpetual calendar so that you can calibrate it to your liking.

This sounds like a very complex project. The challenge as I see it is to coordinate the remaining temple calendar fragments from a dozen different locations including Abydos, Karnak, Elephantine, Medinet Habu, the Ramesseum, Kom Ombo, Esna, Edfu, and Dendera. According to Egyptologist Sherif El-Sabban in his Temple Calendars of Ancient Egypt, all these calenders are extremely varied and exist in only small fragments. Each temple apparently had it's own set of festivals and commemorations, with not a great deal of overlap or duplication.
It would be misleading to give the impression that in ancient Egypt there was one or even two national festival calendars. Nevertheless, as long as Siuda provides academic sources for her conclusions, this work could be helpful. I hope she does not follow the sourcing format she used in her prayerbook. I was disappointed to find that her bibliography was so unhelpful. She would list the location for her information--such as "Edfu temple," "Leiden Papyrus," "Tomb of Ramses VI", and "Greek Magical Papyri." It would have been much more useful to give us precise sourcing such as one finds in genuinely scholarly works, even when they are written for the general public and not for academics. This would have greatly helped her readers track down further information.
I hope Siuda gives us all specific sourcing information for those of us who wish to follow up on the information she provides.

Chabas · « **Reply #2 on:** February 23, 2013, 01:49:11 pm »

Quote from: Bastemhet;97330

Here's the link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tsiuda/the-ancient-egyptian-daybook

Am I the only one who things that her kickstarter text reads more like a blurb for an infotainment book for kids than a serious discussion of the Kemetic calendar? I find myself reluctant to pledge any money to this before having some idea of what the actual book will be like because my current impression is that it will be aimed at teens with a vague general interest in Egypt rather than serious Kemetic practitioners.

--Chabas

Valentine · « **Reply #3 on:** February 23, 2013, 06:47:08 pm »

Quote from: Chabas;97716

Am I the only one who things that her kickstarter text reads more like a blurb for an infotainment book for kids than a serious discussion of the Kemetic calendar? I find myself reluctant to pledge any money to this before having some idea of what the actual book will be like because my current impression is that it will be aimed at teens with a vague general interest in Egypt rather than serious Kemetic practitioners.

--Chabas

Yeah, I've got to say, at such time as I need a Kemetic calendar, I'm happy to wait a little bit for Darkhawk's to be finished.

veggiewolf · « **Reply #4 on:** February 24, 2013, 10:32:10 am »

Quote from: Chabas;97716

Am I the only one who things that her kickstarter text reads more like a blurb for an infotainment book for kids than a serious discussion of the Kemetic calendar? I find myself reluctant to pledge any money to this before having some idea of what the actual book will be like because my current impression is that it will be aimed at teens with a vague general interest in Egypt rather than serious Kemetic practitioners.

--Chabas

I agree. The blurb may misrepresent the project, but that's how I'm reading it.

Maulus · « **Reply #5 on:** February 24, 2013, 10:58:23 am »

Quote from: Bastemhet;97330

So check it out guys, Tamara Siuda has created a calendar that will include a blank perpetual calendar so that you can calibrate it to your liking. She has it up as a Kickstarter project,which means she had to get a certain amount of donations in order to make this dream a reality. So far she's already reached her goal (and you can still pledge certain amounts to be one of the first to get the calendars), but there are stretch goals that include a mobile app that I'm really excited about. If this sounds interesting to you guys, I encourage you to pledge any amount (and certain amounts come with the book itself once it's published).

Here's the link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tsiuda/the-ancient-egyptian-daybook

The idea of a Kemetic calendar, with all the holidays in place and so on sounds great, but this does read like a description for kids rather than a scholarly book. Also no mention of her role within KO or even any mention of KO (understandably as it may limit the funding received) However, seeing as a large proportion of the people that would be pledging for this book and buying it later, are likely to be KO or other Kemetic recons maybe it might have been worth a mention.

In fact, looking at the language used, it reads like Tamara Siuda has actually taken pains not to mention KO or KR at all.

Dan

Sage · « **Reply #6 on:** February 24, 2013, 11:03:26 am »

Quote from: Maulus;98057

In fact, looking at the language used, it reads like Tamara Siuda has actually taken pains not to mention KO or KR at all.

Dan

That was something that really surprised me too -- nary a mention of KO in the whole project.

Helmsman_of_Inepu · « **Reply #7 on:** February 24, 2013, 09:15:50 pm »

Quote from: Sage;98059

That was something that really surprised me too -- nary a mention of KO in the whole project.

I strongly suspect that the idea was to appeal to as wide a potential group of contributors as possible. Otherwise she could just ask KO members to contribute. Which didn't bring in enough money to be worthwhile when she was doing the yearly pdf version.

Chabas · « **Reply #8 on:** February 25, 2013, 01:09:58 am »

Quote from: Helmsman_of_Inepu;98184

I strongly suspect that the idea was to appeal to as wide a potential group of contributors as possible. Otherwise she could just ask KO members to contribute. Which didn't bring in enough money to be worthwhile when she was doing the yearly pdf version.

While I can see that point, it seems to me she's seriously misrepresenting the project to those not fully aware of her background and intentions. I for one would be fairly annoyed if I thought I'd paid for Egyptian infotainment and got a semi-scholarly religious work instead.

--Chabas

Helmsman_of_Inepu · « **Reply #9 on:** February 25, 2013, 08:18:00 am »

Quote from: Chabas;98231

I for one would be fairly annoyed if I thought I'd paid for Egyptian infotainment and got a semi-scholarly religious work instead.

--Chabas

I think it's possible to do both, especially if the infotainment is mostly a 'wrapper.'

"Yay! It's the Day of Treading on the Fishes!" with a 'learn more" link that explained what we actually know, with citations. I have no idea if she's doing it that way, but if it's an electronic interface it should be possible to choose which view you get.

Devo · « **Reply #10 on:** February 27, 2013, 11:55:12 am »

Quote from: Setnakht;97712

...

I just picked a quote to hang my comments on.

I want to know that what Kemetic Orthodoxy has to do with any of this. Why does she have to mention that "oh by the way, I run a Kemetic temple"? Why?

Anyone?

Let me also state that for many Egyptologists, stating that you dabble in the history in a religious sense (aka you're an Egyptologist that is also Kemetic) is a huge black mark on you. So she could easily be omitting that for those reasons alone. And for anyone that isn't in the Kemetic community, stating that she is the founder of Kemetic Orthodoxy means jack.

I mean, I'm allowed to be Devo the hard working artist that just happens to draw Egyptian gods as a hobby. Where does it mandate that I have to say that I'm a hard working artist that draws Egyptian gods because its' a religious thing?

As for the project itself, I would imagine it will be a lot like the calendars that KO currently releases to its members, though I would hope that they will be more in-depth. Considering she mentions that she has books and resources, I would assume there is some sort of biblio in the back. iirc, even her Prayerbook has a short biblio in the back. Whether each and every festival will be footnoted- would be interesting to see.

The pitch? Eh. I could take it or leave it. I'm sure she's trying to come off as light hearted and fun to catch more people's attention. Its all about marketing, and she's marketing to more than just us. She has to if she wants to get enough money. Kemetics are notorious for being tightwads.

My .02

-Devo

Sage · « **Reply #11 on:** February 27, 2013, 12:14:57 pm »

Quote from: Devo;98690

I just picked a quote to hang my comments on.

I want to know that what Kemetic Orthodoxy has to do with any of this. Why does she have to mention that "oh by the way, I run a Kemetic temple"? Why?

Anyone?

To be honest... there's something about it that does feel a little disingenuous. Or at least confusing, about not mentioning it. If there's someone making a religious Kemetic calendar, it makes sense for them to give their religious Kemetic cred. It's not like this is being marketed towards academics at all -- and it's not like Tamara's religious and academic personas have been kept strictly separate. (Obviously there's a difference between her role as a scholar and her role as Nisut, but she hasn't taken pains to obscure one identity from the other. Nor should she have to!) Why not take a single sentence to say, "Tamara Siuda, in addition to being a published Egyptologist, is also the founder of Kemetic Orthodoxy"? Especially since her work in KO kinda would inform what she's doing here?

Devo · « **Reply #12 on:** February 27, 2013, 12:24:31 pm »

Quote from: Sage;98694

To be honest... there's something about it that does feel a little disingenuous. Or at least confusing, about not mentioning it. If there's someone making a religious Kemetic calendar, it makes sense for them to give their religious Kemetic cred. It's not like this is being marketed towards academics at all -- and it's not like Tamara's religious and academic personas have been kept strictly separate. (Obviously there's a difference between her role as a scholar and her role as Nisut, but she hasn't taken pains to obscure one identity from the other. Nor should she have to!) Why not take a single sentence to say, "Tamara Siuda, in addition to being a published Egyptologist, is also the founder of Kemetic Orthodoxy"? Especially since her work in KO kinda would inform what she's doing here?

I would think that her Egyptological experience would have more weight than her role as a Nisut. To be honest, I think her role as Nisut hurts her credentials than the other way around. That could be why she left it out.

I guess because I talk with Tamara on KIN, where she is just that- Tamara, not "Tamara the founder of KO", I don't really think that she should be obligated to include that in her kickstarter description. Nor should it really make or break how scholastic or "worthy" her book is. There are other Kemetic writers who have books out there that are less than scholastic in their approach, and we aren't roasting them over the coals.

-Devo

Sage · « **Reply #13 on:** February 27, 2013, 12:28:59 pm »

Quote from: Devo;98696

I would think that her Egyptological experience would have more weight than her role as a Nisut. To be honest, I think her role as Nisut hurts her credentials than the other way around. That could be why she left it out.

I guess because I talk with Tamara on KIN, where she is just that- Tamara, not "Tamara the founder of KO", I don't really think that she should be obligated to include that in her kickstarter description. Nor should it really make or break how scholastic or "worthy" her book is. There are other Kemetic writers who have books out there that are less than scholastic in their approach, and we aren't roasting them over the coals.

-Devo

But the point is she's creating a religious Kemetic calendar -- and while the scholarly stuff is definitely important, so is the religious. I also don't understand why you think "we" are roasting anyone over the coals. I think Tamara should have included her KO status, and it's really as simple as that.

veggiewolf · « **Reply #14 on:** February 27, 2013, 12:37:07 pm »

Quote from: Devo;98690

...

My issue with the entire project is from a specific POV:

The kickstarter blurb reads like this is an infotainment project, much like The Ancient Egypt Pack I have on my shelf done by Rondearis and Maitland. If it is infotainment, then I agree that scholarly and religious background doesn't need to be mentioned.

If, however, this project is meant to be scholarly, then the kickstarter isn't accurate and is misrepresenting the project.

This would be my opinion whether KO/HoN was involved or not.

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