On 7/16/11 the San Jose Mercury News (
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"San Jose's Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum welcomes guests to annual celebration
By Peter Delevettpdelevett@mercurynews.com
POSTED: 07/16/2011 07:46:00 PM ...
It was fitting that Dasha Kiryashova won top honors in a Saturday costume contest thanks to a Cleopatra get-up.
The Egyptian museum at the other end of San Jose's Rosicrucian Park is home to one of just seven original statues of the real Cleopatra VII that are known to exist.
More than 100,000 people each year visit the park and museum in the Rose Garden neighborhood, but Executive Director Julie Scott knows many more drive past and idly wonder what goes on behind the elaborate gates. The Rosicrucian Order's yearly Egyptian Epagomenal Festival is a way to woo the curious inside.
The free festival, which commemorates an ancient Egyptian celebration of five deities, continues Sunday. Activities include a children's craft booth, tours of the museum's subterranean tomb and a chance to play senet, one of the oldest board games in the world.
While the afternoon crowds were sparse -- one toddler-trailing mom was heard to ask, "Where's the festival?" -- you could have picked a much worse place to spend a cool, cloudless Saturday than the park's leafy grounds.
And inside the museum, dozens of folks oohed and aahed over relics including a 3,000-year-old mummy and a rare proclamation by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
The San Jose-based Rosicrucian Order long has supported archaeological excavation work in Egypt. In return, it's been gifted with some 3,000 artifacts, making its collection one of the largest in the United States.
The spiritual order was founded in 1915 and moved its global headquarters to San Jose in the 1920s, when Naglee Avenue was a dirt road and a hog farm occupied what's now part of the 6-acre park. But its roots go much further back: Rosicrucianism was founded in the 1600s as a secret society that counted Napoleon and Sir Francis Bacon among its devotees.
And Rosicrucians believe their spiritual and philosophical traditions date all the way to ancient Egypt. The movement has had historic ties to Freemasonry and the legendary Knights Templar, Scott said. More recent adherents have included Gene Roddenberry, the late "Star Trek" creator.
Museum supervisor Don Raymond said the group expects about 1,600 visitors over the course of the two-day festival, which is free of charge. For a schedule of events, go to www.egyptian museum.org.
Like other museum staff and volunteers, Raymond was dressed Saturday in Egyptian garb. "I'm told I resemble Zoser," he said with a smile, referring to the pharaoh who built the first of the pyramids.
EPAGOMENAL FESTIVAL
The event runs again Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, 1660 Park Ave., San Jose. Admission to the festival on the grounds is free, but entrance fees apply for the museum itself. Details: www.egyptianmuseum.org."