Hence the rising of Sirius marked the
beginning of the sacred Egyptian year, and was regularly celebrated
by a festival which did not shift with the shifting official year.
The cutting of the dams and the admission of the water into the
canals and fields is a great event in the Egyptian year. At Cairo
the operation generally takes place between the sixth and the
sixteenth of August, and till lately was attended by ceremonies
which deserve to be noticed, because they were probably handed down
from antiquity. An ancient canal, known by the name of the Khal?j,
formerly passed through the native town of Cairo. Near its entrance
the canal was crossed by a dam of earth, very broad at the bottom
and diminishing in breadth upwards, which used to be constructed
before or soon after the Nile began to rise. In front of the dam, on
the side of the river, was reared a truncated cone of earth called
the '_arooseh_ or "bride," on the top of which a little maize or
millet was generally sown. This "bride" was commonly washed down by
the rising tide a week or a fortnight before the cutting of the dam.
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