Editing Isis (section)

====Festivals====
Roman calendars listed the two most important [[Roman festival|festivals]] of Isis as early as the first century CE. The first festival was the [[Navigium Isidis]] in March, which celebrated Isis's influence over the sea and served as a prayer for the safety of seafarers and, eventually, of the Roman people and their leaders.{{sfn|Salzman|1990|pp=169–175}} It consisted of an elaborate procession, including Isiac priests and devotees with a wide variety of costumes and sacred emblems, carrying a model ship from the local Isis temple to the sea{{sfn|Donalson|2003|pp=68–73}} or to a nearby river.{{sfn|Alvar|2008|p=299}} The other was the [[Isia (festival)|Isia]] in late October and early November. Like its Egyptian forerunner, the Khoiak festival, the Isia included a ritual reenactment of Isis's search for Osiris, followed by jubilation when the god's body was found.{{sfn|Alvar|2008|pp=300–302}} Several more minor festivals were dedicated to Isis, including the [[Pelusia]] in late March that may have celebrated the birth of Harpocrates, and the [[Lychnapsia]], or lamp-lit festival, that celebrated Isis's own birth on August 12.{{sfn|Salzman|1990|pp=169–175}}

Festivals of Isis and other polytheistic deities were celebrated throughout the fourth century CE, despite the [[Christianization of the Roman Empire|growth of Christianity]] in that era and the [[Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire|persecution of pagans]] that intensified toward the end of the century.{{sfn|Salzman|1990|pp=232–236}} The Isia was celebrated at least as late as 417 CE,{{sfn|Turcan|1996|p=128}} and the Navigium Isidis lasted well into the sixth century.{{sfn|Salzman|1990|p=239}} Increasingly, the religious meaning of all Roman festivals was forgotten or ignored even as the customs continued. In some cases, these customs became part of the combined classical and Christian culture of the [[Early Middle Ages]].{{sfn|Salzman|1990|pp=240–246}}