Henet facts for kids

Henet is an egyptian goddess, referred to in the pyramid texts and associated with the pelican.

Literature

“The Pelican (Henet in Egyptian), found in livestock scenes on the walls of courtiers’ tombs, figures in royal funerary texts from the Pyramid Age as a protective symbol against snakes. The description of the Pelican falling into the Nile seems connected with the idea of scooping up in its prominent beak hostile elements under the guise of fish – a concept comparable to the dragnets and bird nets used for trapping sinners in the Underworld. That the Pelican is a divinity must be assumed from the reference to it in the Pyramid Texts as the ‘mother of the king’, a role which in religious documents can only be ascribed to a goddess. In non-royal funerary papyri the Pelican has the power of prophesying a safe passage for a dead person in the Underworld. The open beak of the Pelican is also associated with the ability of the deceased to leave the burial chamber and go out into the rays of the sun, possibly an analogy made between the long cavernous beak of the pelican and the tomb shaft.”

— George Hart, The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses