Horon

Algunos dioses del ámbito próximo-oriental documentados en el repertorio iconográfico del antiguo Egipto recibieron culto oficial y popular en el país del Nilo desde el Reino Nuevo. Entre dichas deidades ocuparon un lugar significativo Rashap y Horon. De ambos dioses no conocemos ninguna representación fidedigna en el ámbito próximo oriental. Sin embargo, la iconografía, ofrece en varias ocasiones sus imágenes junto a la grafía de sus teónimos en escritura jeroglífica. Tenemos así en la iconografía egipcia una interesante fuente de información que permite cubrir aspectos de sumo interés en el estudio de las deidades del Próximo Oriente Asiático. Por un lado, el conocimiento de su apariencia física, pero también algunas de sus prerrogativas manifestadas en los atributos iconográficos que complementan sus imágenes.

Different ethnic groups who had lived together in the Eastern Black Sea coast of Anatolia over the centuries, have undergone a process of separation, which focused on religion, during the foundation process of the Turkish Republic. This separation necessitated the integration of people from the same religion but from different cultures into their new places. After the Lausanne Exchange, the Pontiacs of the Black Sea settled in various parts of Greece and carried the tradition of dancing horon with them. A similar example is seen in the Balkan Turks who carried their dance tradition to the Black Sea where they settled. This research uses methods of short-term participant observation and literature reviews made in Turkey and Greece to investigate the variables that influence the selection of the places and contexts where the horon is performed in the two countries.

This study focuses on the habitual practice of Horon at the Black Sea Region in Turkey in the context of a traditional harvest feast called Otçu Göçü Şenliği (Harvesters’ Migration Feast). Horon is a rural-originated traditional movement practice, particular to the region and it is the dominant activity in Otçu Göçü Şenliği, which is originally based on the local seasonal cycle and is characterised by an annual postharvest journey to high plateaus within the mountains. The discussion in this paper is based on the anthropological material collected at İzmiş Harvest Feast, which took place at Beşikdüzü / Trabzon on August 25th, 2013. Although Otçu Göçü Şenliği can be said to bear basic characteristics of a calendrical rite and Horon is usually studied within the scope of folk dance studies, this research aims to look at the current realisation of Horon practice in the harvest feast by focusing on the emic verb used by the actual performers to denote their activity, that is, ‘oyun’. Although oyun in Turkish basically means play, it is also used to express all traditional dance practices in the country. This study tries to look at the practice in question through the lens of performance studies, which interpret play and ritual not in pure opposition, but in close collaboration in creating a performance. It especially focuses on the ‘fl ow experience’ created through the Horon performance in the feast as a result of intense playing, which eventually leads to the emergence of a great sense of collective joy.

Some attestations of the cult of Horon in Egypt suggests important similarities between the Asiatic god and the Egyptian god Horus. It is quite difficult to determine whether such affinities came from the original meaning of each god in their own land, or whether they were made in Egypt as a result of the development of minor but essential affinities which were recognised between the two deities from the time of the arrival of Horon in Egypt. Both sources, Egyptian and North-Western-Asiatic, suggest that form the earlier, minor affinities between Horon and Horus, other important connections were made, and that they increased the attributions of, at least, the Egyptian god Horus.