THE FESTIVALS OF BAST

The Festival of Bast at Bubastis is described by Herodotus as being the
greatest one in Egypt, with 700,000 people taking part. The Festival consisted
of music (rattles and flutes especially), singing, clapping, dancing, dirty jokes,
women lifting up their skirts and so on. The quasi orgiastic element in this
festival made it a collective social catharsis, just as Carnival occupies the same
role in Brazil for instance.

CatGuy, an online source, mentioned the different festivals of Bast, as yet
unconfirmed by other sources:

"The Festival of Bast occurs four times during the year! April 15 (along
with the Festival of Heru, or Horus -- Bast’s twin brother), May 15
(along with the Festival of Het Heret, or Hathor, and the Great Feast
of the Southern Heavens), September 22, and November 16. Notice
that this is using a solar calendar...

Additional related holidays are: the Festival of the East Star on the
first full moon on or after the Spring Equinox (Easter), the Procession
of Bast on August 27, the Feast of Sekhmet and Bast on October 31
(Halloween), and the Birthday of Bast and Heru on December 25
(Christmas)."

Michael Poe in his e-text says:

"A good description of the Festival of Bast, called the Festival of Lights,
has been described by various Greek and Roman writers... At the
festival of Lights, all light in the city is extinguished. Then a new fire is
made in the temple and the priests come out to light the torches of the
people who then parade throughout the city to relight all the home
fires. by the Greek/Roman period there was also a kind of sexual
license at the time at the festival. Food and drink for all (which is
typical of the temple festivals)."

However, according to CatGuy the Festival of Lights is dedicated to Isis. So
more research is necessary. Anyhow, the festival Herodotus spoke of took
place in April or May, the time of the year when the sun is gentlest, thus
reminiscent of Bast.