Mouth opening ceremony
Mouth opening ceremony 1-741
After death, and before being buried in his grave, the mummy of the deceased had to undergo complex rituals to help him regain his senses through magic, and thus be able to enjoy a full life in the afterlife.
Egypt in the era of the New Kingdom. It's not just a day: the pharaoh is dead. In order for the deceased king to be reunited with the gods and enjoy eternal life, it would be necessary to strictly observe the funeral rituals. After the obligatory seventy days that the mummification process takes, the royal mummy is placed in a boat at the head of a small fleet that will take it up the Nile River to its final resting place: the Valley of the Kings, west of Thebes, the country’s capital. The successor of the deceased king leads the funeral convoy, while the inhabitants of the Nile country, his subjects, gather on its banks to bid farewell to their last king. They break the silence with their screams and lamentations. Whoever will be the next pharaoh is expected to play an active role in his predecessor's funeral because only by meticulously following the rituals will he be able to ensure his legitimacy as heir to the Throne of the Two Lands.
◾The journey to the grave
After descending, the coffin with the royal mummy is placed on a platform pulled by two oxen to be transported to the cemetery. But the late pharaoh would not go alone. His final journey will be accompanied by a large procession of shaven-headed priests filling the air with their songs and the smell of incense. Professional mourners who scream, cry, moan, and tear their clothes while tearing their hair out of despair; Servants who transport the belongings that will form the king's luxurious funerary apparatus. The funeral procession concludes with two women dressed as the goddesses Isis and Nephthys, the two blacksmith sisters of Osiris, who protect the deceased with their spread wings.
When the great procession reaches the gates of the royal cemetery, a seim (pure) priest wearing a mask bearing the image of the dog god Anubis asks permission to conduct the burial. At that moment, a group of Mo dancers appears, performing a ritual dance in front of the coffin to confirm that the funeral can continue. After that, the priest-reader or gerbil reads some passages from the funerary text. Once this ritual was completed, the coffin was placed with the mummy inside it (some authors assert that the ceremony took place before the mummy was taken out of the coffin; others believe that it was performed in front of the statue and that it took place inside it). The funeral chamber is placed in front of the door of the tomb to carry out the most important ritual of all, which will allow the deceased to regain all his senses so that he can live fully in the afterlife: this is what is known as the ceremony of “opening the mouth and eyes.”
◾Resurrection rituals
The ceremony of opening the mouth (as it is known in its abbreviated form), a ritual for which we have evidence since ancient times, was not limited to kings. Rather, it was performed on the mummy of any deceased person for the purpose of ensuring the complete recovery of all his senses (speech, sight, and hearing) for the afterlife. Thus, this ceremony was an affirmation that death was not the end, but rather the beginning of a new life that lasts forever.
The steps (75 according to some texts) followed by the priests responsible for the rituals were extremely complex and full of mysticism. The restoration of each sense corresponded to a different deity who was represented by a priest wearing a divine mask. For example, Ptah, the creator god of Memphis, was symbolically responsible for "opening" the mouth of the deceased so that he could regain speech, and the funeral god Socre was responsible for restoring sight.
To carry out magical rituals, priests usually used items made of meteoric iron, as this material was believed to be sent from heaven by the gods. Among these tools are a tool, a stick shaped like a fish tail called a pishkiv, and a knife decorated with a snake head called an orhikaw. With them, the priests touched the limbs and organs that had to be brought back to life, especially the eyes, nose, ears and mouth, so that the deceased could eat, drink, speak, hear, smell and see in the afterlife.
In the Book of the Dead (a collection of funerary formulas intended to facilitate the journey to the underworld) there is a passage in which the deceased refers to the ritual: “My mouth was opened by Ptah, / The chains of my mouth were loosed.” From the god of my city. / Thoth has come fully equipped with spells, / unbinding Seth from my mouth. / Atum gave me my hand, / They stand as guards, / My mouth is given to me. The mouth is the one that Ptah opened / With that metal chisel / With which he opened the mouth of the gods / I am Segmet and Wadjet who dwells in the west of the sky / I am Sahit among the spirits of On.
◾ Food and drink for the dead
As soon as the deceased regained consciousness, one of the bulls that participated in the funeral procession was sacrificed. With the help of the animal's thigh (which was sometimes not real, but rather an instrument having that shape), the priest "opened" the eyes and mouth of the mummy four times. After that, the dead man's mouth was opened again using the come. Since the deceased could now eat and drink, a series of food offerings and a cup of water were made to him. Meanwhile, servants were depositing funerary items into the tomb. Finally, after "cleaning" the bandages covering the eyes and mouth, a copy of the funerary text (usually the Book of the Dead) was placed inside the coffin and taken to the funerary chamber. If he were the pharaoh, his coffin would be placed inside a stone coffin. When they retired, The group responsible for all these tasks has cleared their tracks.
Finally, the pharaoh lies in his coffin. You already have all the necessary elements for a full life with Osiris. After closing the door of the tomb and sealing it, the priests recite a final rosary and purify the place with incense and aromatic water. The procession can now return to Thebes and leave the late pharaoh to rest forever in his tomb. A new era begins for Egypt under the leadership of a new ruler. Long live Pharaoh!


◾Source: National Geographic, 2020.