Yom Shabbat and Inner Peace

Today I celebrated Yom Shabbat.  I woke up at midday and began my day with some reading on the gods and history.  I then spent some time relaxing.  It was a warm day, with Shapash shining gloriously down from the blue heavens.  Out of the window on the western side of the house I saw her shining down upon the brick wall surrounding the house and on the street below, making it shine a beautiful white.  A light breeze blew through the air.  On the eastern side of the house I looked out on the gardens and yards of the houses in the street.  In the gardens tall green trees swayed merrily in the breeze, their tops seeming to reach up into the blue sky.  I raised the palm of my hand to the deities in the heavens, then continued upstairs with a cup of water to my household shrine in my bedroom.

I approached and rung the bell to ward off evil spirits, then bowed seven times before the Teraphim.  The feeling of inner peace was overwhelming.  I looked out of my bedroom window to see the trees swaying and dogs playing in the gardens below, and birds flying high above in the vault of the firmament.  The sound of their singing was music to my ears as I gave a cup of water as an offering to the household gods, asking them to bless this day and thanking them for all good things which had come to pass.  I then bowed seven times again and left the room.

While I was performing the ritual I was contemplating for a few moments.  I saw the whole village, the great houses and shops and the swaying palm trees, the fields and forests where I had spent my earliest days exploring.  I thought of the house, and it's four walls.  I saw the Teraphim within, the serpent large against the wall, and Asherah holding her breasts while smiling down benevolently.

The rest of the day I have spent playing games, resting, talking, and making new videos for my Canaanite Youtube channel.  I'm also getting ready for a meal at the table.

Offerings at the shrine

Today I made some offerings at my household cultic shrine for the Teraphim (household gods).  I took a cup of water up to my bedroom, then approached the shrine on the far wall.

The reason I was making offerings was in fulfillment of a promise that I would give the household deities offerings if they protected the house while I way away on a journey to an inn for two days (the same journey I spoke of in the blog post about my offerings to the deities when I returned).

I went to the shrine, and took the ritual bell, ringing it several times to ward off evil spirits.  I then bowed seven times and prayed.  I took a few moments of contemplation, during which I thought of these benevolent household gods and how they have been near my family and watched over me and the household since I was born.  I thought of the number of Canaanites, ancient and modern, who might do a similar ritual at their own household shrines.

I then placed the cup in the shrine and gave the deities the water as an offering.  After this was done, I bowed and left the room, removing the cup and drinking the water within as I went downstairs.  I was in high spirits, and felt calm and tranquil.

2nd Yom Shabbat Khiyyaru

Today is Yom Shabbat, the Seventh Day, and the day of rest.  As I woke up in the early hours of the morning, I left my bed and sat on my bedroom floor with a lamp lit to provide me with light during the dark hours of the morning.  I was reading on the civilizations to the north of Canaan, namely the Ashkenazites and Magogites, and the Gomerites (the Scythians and the Cimmerians respectively) and their interaction with the Assyrians and Persians through warfare.

When Shapash arose, I beheld the blue sky of a beautiful winter's morning.  The sky was clear and there was a light breeze.  I decided to spend the day reading through some blogs and visiting some forums.

Today I also plan to visit my household cultic shrine and give some offerings to household Asherah.

How to perform a ritual to the Teraphim

Your family Teraphim are household gods.  Most of these tend to be personal and unique deities, but the goddess Asherah is commonly found among them.

If you have any idols of the household gods, it is best to keep them somewhere private.  Usually upstairs is where a Teraphim shrine will be kept.  I personally keep mine in my bedroom, behind some curtains which I can open and close at any time.  I also have a small cabinet nearby where I can store them if needed. 

On your altar, place the idols themselves, a light source like an oil lamp or candles, and incense.  I personally have on mine some incense, two oil lamps, a representation of a kappu symbol, and the idols of the deities themselves.

Only you know your own Teraphim, so I cannot tell you how to worship them individually.  However, for a very general ritual to them, I can tell you how I would go about it personally.

Firstly, wash yourself with water.  This doesn't need to be very elaborate, at least not as elaborate as temple worship.  You don't need to purify the whole room or make it sacred, as it is your own dwelling, and the household cultic areas should already be purified when constructed.  Instead, simply approach the shrine and bring an offering.  Something like a drink-offering would do for a daily offering.  With something more elaborate, offerings like bread and cakes are common (especially around festival times).

Approach the shrine.  This doesn't need to be solemn like entering a temple room, simply walk up to your shrine and kneel before it.  Begin by invoking the Teraphim individually, then light the oil lamps.  Then prostrate yourself seven times (or bow if your prefer).  Come forward with your offering and leave it in the shrine, then burn some incense in their honour.  Return to kneeling on the floor, and say a small prayer to the household gods.

Now this ritual isn't very complex, and that is the intention.  I prefer to keep my interaction with the household deities very simple.  If you want to do something more elaborate, then that is up to you.  This is just how I do it personally.  Also, when passing an altar, make sure to say a quick blessing to the deities there, in order to invoke their blessing in return.  It can be something simply like saying "shalam" when you walk past.  How frequently you perform these rituals is up to you.  Some people might prefer to do it every day, possibly even every morning and night.  It is recommended, though, that you strengthen your relationship to your household deities with frequent offerings.

An ancient household shrine

Inside an ancient Canaanite/Israelite house

The house, or bet, is the home of the Canaanite, and is his/her dwelling.  But it is more than that.  It is where the family gather, it is shelter from the dangerous world outside, it is protection, it is the place of leisure, and it is the place where the household deities and personal deities are worshiped.

In ancient times, the house was made of mud-brick and was flat-roofed.  For a poor person or a commoner it would be one or two floors, with a few small rooms inside.  Inside it would be very crowded.  For a wealthy person, a house might be large, with a massive garden area.  The ideal family was large, consisting of four to eight people.  An extended family, called the bet-ab (father's house), consisted of the father and mother, the sons and their wives, and the children of these sons.  The sons might build a small dwelling around the central courtyard, so there would be several buildings surrounding one courtyard, with one large family living in them all.  Though, of course, this wasn't always possible.  For the wealthy family there would also be small chapels for various gods built throughout the house, and the slaves' quarters.  The slaves would often do tasks like tending to the garden, which might have several trees (like tamarisks and date palms), or to the vineyards and orchards (which might be planted within the garden).  The slaves would often live in families with their own children.

The father of the family went and worked in a specific trade for a living.  He would work from sunrise to sunset, and he would spend much of his time in the public sector (working, taking part in temple rituals, speaking to the council, joining specific guilds or societies associated with his trade, and so on).  He might also spend some time in the tavern on the night.  When at home, the father was the head of the household and of all the younger generations.  The mother stayed at home, weaving, cooking, cleaning, and performing domestic chores.  She also raised the children.  Women were mostly restricted to the private sector and spent most of the time at home (and when she left the house she was usually with her husband), however, women did have more rights than most other nations at the time.  Women could work (though they were usually given lower-paid jobs, such as weaving in a textiles factory), could divorce, could take matters to court, and could sell and trade in goods.  The mother was also to be highly respected by her children (in some ways, one could argue, more than the father).  The son would stay in the house for his first few years, then he would enter into his father's trade and become an apprentice to his father.  If he was wealthy (and wanting to become a scribe) he would go to school instead.  The son aided his father in rituals to the gods, washed his father's clothes, held his father up while he was drunk, and plastered the roof of the house against leaks.  The daughter never went to school or work but stayed at home with the mother.  She fetched water from the well, looked after the food supply, and was gifted in divination and astrology.

The Canaanites also built apartments in large cities, which were houses built on top of one another, and connected by a stone staircase running up one side, where the doors to each floor would be located.

The houses of ancient Canaan and Israel were very similar.

A house would have a front courtyard, where the animals might be kept.  It would be walled or fenced.

At the bottom of the courtyard or garden would be the entrance to the family tomb, which was under the house (in the underworld, or the house of the dead, where the shades of families went after death).

Inside, the house would typically have two floors.  The top floor would be for leisure, while the bottom floor would be for storage.  Four pillars would hold up the roof.

The door would open into the kitchen on the bottom floor, a small room where the food was cooked and prepared.  A small cooking fire would be prepared, and stones for grinding grain.  Next to this room would be a room for storing pots and bowls on shelves. It would be important to store extra food, as the climate of the Near East is actually very chaotic and not always consistent.  Sometimes the winter rains would not come (and so nothing would grow) and would come instead in the middle of summer, causing floods and storms.  Poor harvests could be as common as one in every four years.  To the other side would be a small stable area with a paved floor, where a sheep or goat might be housed.  Meat made up a small part of the average diet in those days, with it being mostly consumed during festivals when large animal sacrifices were common in temples.  Instead, the animals were more often used to provide milk and dairy products.

(Bottom right: The stable with a sheep, Bottom middle: the kitchen area)

A ladder or flight of stairs would lead to the second floor.  Upstairs would be the leisure area.  This would typically include space for living and entertaining guests.  In this leisure area the family would keep themselves entertained by telling stories (including traditional legends of the gods), playing music, dancing, and playing board games and dice games.

Space for sleeping would be located at one side of the upstairs area.  In more elaborate homes, the wealthy had their own bedrooms (including a small bedroom/nursery for the children) and larger beds in the manner of those of the Egyptians.  But for the average commoner there was some space where they would lie with blankets.  A ladder would lead onto the roof, and in the summer the family would sleep on the roof to keep cool.

The dining room area would be upstairs, and would be most likely in the centre, as it was where the family gathered for meals.  The family would sit on the floor and share the same food.  Bread would make up a large part of their diet, as would cereals of wheat and barley during autumn, winter, and spring.  In the summer, fruit and dates would be common.  Meat would be consumed during festivals and on special occasions.  Vegetables were not very common in the average person's diet (as the country is hilly and very few people had artificial vegetable gardens), and were mostly eaten by rich people who had small vegetable gardens planted near their homes (the most common types included leeks and onions).  For drinks, people usually drank water and wine.

The women would spend their days here, where they would weave and create textiles using a loom.  This was a daily activity, and used to create clothing.

At the very far end, located in the wall, would be a small cultic area.  This would be a small household shrine or altar, dedicated to the family Teraphim (household gods).  Asherah often appears among these deities, though most were personal and unique to the family and clan.  People also conducted house worship here (I will write more on the differences between house worship and temple worship in another post, though it is mostly the same as in other religions like Kemeticism, Hellenismos, and Hinduism).  This area would include oil lamps and incense.

(Left: Shrine to the household gods, Middle: dining area and women's area, Right: Sleeping and leisure area)