Burial Ceremonies and Rituals in Ancient Egypt
The burial ceremony, so we know it only from the drawings on the walls of the tombs, and the religious rituals begin in their first days with the ritual of washing with Nile water to remove the excess salt.
This washing was a ritual act to the greatest extent
Because the Egyptians saw him as a symbol of the myth of the creation of the sun from the water of the Nile and the receding of the floodwaters
This ritual is depicted in the tombs of the modern state and its coffins, and the deceased is represented by it sitting on a large urn as he bathes in a stream of water pouring over him.
Religious rituals continue through incantations that are read at each stage of mummification.
There are spells with instructions that recommend removing fingernails and toenails before rolling them.
As this is accompanied by a special chant for the deceased to retrieve them afterwards, as well as to wipe the head with oil, a final wipe with many wraps saturated with oil or resin.
The spells that are said with it are responsible for restoring the senses to them and the rest of the members.
The god Anubis, the god of embalmers and the god About, was represented by the head of a jackal from the familiar faces in funeral rites and beliefs, in addition to many gods, including (Osiris, Hathor, Mert, Segart, Isis, Nephthys, Srkt, Nate, the four sons of Horus).
As for the burial rites took place during a kind of religious funerary dance and the percussion of tambourines, and the priests were carrying the coffin and the guts box. Flowers were piled up around the coffin, decorated with images of the gods who would help him in the resurrection. In it is the body of the deceased. Another boat includes many women wailing in the direction of the deceased. At the front of the boat, one of the people of the deceased shouts with the rudder to head west to the country of the righteous. The third boat includes male relatives of the deceased, while the fourth boat is friends and colleagues who carry their sticks in their hands and carry the rest Funeral artefact boats.
The relatives of the deceased, his family and his friends had come to pay the last tribute to the deceased and to put flowers and food offerings in his tomb. This procession of boats imitated the pilgrimage journey that the deceased is supposed to undertake across the Nile to the holy places in Abydos and Putu as mentioned in the pharaonic legend.
The final funeral ceremony begins on the western shore of the Nile, with men walking in the foreground, followed by women. During the funeral procession, the priests would burn incense in front of the mummy and chant sad hymns over the deceased. Often a group of dancers carrying the name (Moo) would come forward to perform a religious dance for the deceased in special clothes. With two scars representing Isis and Nephthys to simulate the story of the tragedy of Osiris.
And in a place near the cemetery, it was called the “Golden House,” which is the factory of sculptors. The ritual of opening the mouth, eyes and ears was held. The god who attributed this ritual to him was either the god Khnum, hence the title “Master of the Golden House”, or the god Ptah the Creator. The priest of this ritual was called “Sim.” He wears the skin of a leopard that is characteristic of him. The ritual begins by purifying the statue of the deceased and placing it on a base of sand, directing his face towards the south. Then he performs the ritual of opening the mouth, eyes and ears by touching the face of the dead with different instruments chanting (I open your mouth to speak and open your eyes to see Ra and your ears to hear your reverence). Then you walk on your feet to repel the enemies.
After that, some rituals are followed for the deceased to regain his ability to receive the food offered to him daily in the other world. Then the priest fumigates the statue. This ritual is magical as he tries to influence the statue of the deceased to affect the body of the deceased himself.
After this ritual, a bull or a cow was slaughtered and called penance or the coffin sacrifice, then the meat of the sacrifice was distributed to the mourners. It was held to prevent the dead from returning to the home of the living and harassing them. After all these ceremonies and rituals ended, the coffin was placed in the burial chamber, and the well leading to it was filled with gravel and dust that had been left under it, then the deceased was left to go to his other life, which he will live again in the other world.
While he was celebrating the death of people from the upper class at this party, he did not care much about ordinary people. Yet, they could prepare a suitable burial, as the greedy for-profit would obtain an empty old cemetery dug in the rock, increase its capacity, and rent the places where the coffins were placed on top of each other. Up to the ceiling,
But some people were poorer who could not find a place to bury their dead, so they hid in the desert sands, but they tried to get some of the blessings that the tombs offer. Hence, they made small dolls of wood that looked like a mummy from afar, wrote their names on them, wrapped them in rags of linen, and put them In a small coffin. They bury him in front of the entrance to a large cemetery because they hoped that the deceased would obtain thanks to that doll that represents the happiness that those buried inside the cemetery enjoy.