Music played aloudSistrum and rattleMilkHoneyFresh flowersDanceChildlike play
Invocation Approach
Tone
Bright and playful
Address
IhyBeautiful ChildLord of the Sistrum
Relationship
The child who teaches the instrument to be holy
Warning
He is a child and will not sit still for solemnity
Resonance
Musicians dancers and those who keep festival
Symbols
SistrumMenat necklaceSidelock of youthLotus
Mythology Summary
Ihy is the child god of the sistrum: his name is the sound of the instrument itself, and he is shown as a naked child with the sidelock of youth, shaking the sistrum and holding the menat necklace. In the Ptolemaic and Roman temple texts of Dendera he is the child of Hathor and Horus of Edfu, and the festival of Ihy was the occasion on which Hathor's image travelled to Edfu. Egyptian sources say little else about him: he is the joy of the instrument in person, the child who makes the festival.
Modern Practice
Ihy is called on by musicians and by anyone keeping a festival: the practice is to play, to learn the instrument, and to make the offering audible rather than silent. His work is the rattle and the dance rather than the spoken petition.