The ceremony of the opening of the mouth in ancient Egypt
Notes on funerary rites
The complex of rituals that the funerary priest, the "sem", performed on the mummy of the deceased and whose full name is "opening of the mouth and eyes", was intended to regenerate its physique to enable it, once it had successfully passed the test of the weighing of the heart, to enjoy a new life in the lower world. The ritual was very complex and extremely rigid. It began with the purification of the mummy, resting upright on a mound of earth symbolizing the hill that emerged from the primordial Nun, and which was sprinkled with water, incense and natron.
Then, the "sem," with the help of another "reader" priest, who would gradually list the procedures to be followed, would touch the various parts of the deceased's body with a series of specific instruments, which would reactivate their vital functions, including sexuality and sight. In fact, for the Egyptians, without sight there is no life.
These include a flint terminating in two opposing hooks, called a "peseshekef," for opening the mouth, an axe-shaped instrument called a "nechereti," a staff terminating in a ram's or serpent's head, called the "ur-hekau" (the great wizard) and a long golden finger, the "dyeba," which, when placed near the mummy's mouth, gave it new life.
During the ceremony, a bull was also sacrificed. Its heart was extracted, which, together with a leg of the animal, was displayed and placed near the face of the deceased, so that he could inhale its strength and vitality. The ritual was ended with new purifying fumigations of incense and the presentation of offerings.
The ceremonial also included the presence of prefics both during the funeral procession and afterwards, during the performance of the entire rite, in which, two of them impersonated Isis and Nephthys, reciting, together with the priests, the prescribed magic formulas. At the end, the tomb was finally sealed.
