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The Opening of the mouth ceremony (or ritual) was an ancient Egyptian ritual described in funerary texts such as the Pyramid Texts. The ritual involved the symbolic animation of a statue or mummy by magically opening its mouth so that it could breathe and speak. There is evidence of this ritual from the Old Kingdom to the Roman Period.
Special tools were used to perform the ceremony, such as a ritual adze, an arm shaped ritual censer, a forked blade known as a peseshkaf, a serpent-head blade, and a variety of other amulets. A calf's leg was also held up to the lips painted on the coffin.
The ceremony involved up to 75 "episodes," and in its most complete version, it included the following stages:1
- Episodes 1-9 Preliminary rites
- Episodes 10-22 Animation of the statue
- Episodes 23-42 Meat offerings aligned with upper Egypt
- Episodes 43-46 Meat offerings aligned with lower Egypt
- Episodes 47-71 Funerary meal
- Episodes 72-75 Closing rites
The Book of the Dead also contains a spell for this process, which the deceased may use on themselves:2
- My mouth is opened by Ptah,
- My mouth's bonds are loosed by my city-god.
- Thoth has come fully equipped with spells,
- He looses the bonds of Seth from my mouth.
- Atum has given me my hands,
- They are placed as guardians.
- My mouth is given to me,
- My mouth is opened by Ptah,
- With that chisel of metal
- With which he opened the mouth of the gods.
- I am Sekhmet-Wadjet who dwells in the west of heaven,
- I am Sahyt among the souls of On.
Connections with Psalm 51
- Parallels between the Opening of the Mouth and Psalm 51 are pointed out in "Psalm 51 and the 'Opening of the Mouth' Ceremony," by Benjamin Urrutia, Scripta Hierosolymitana: Publications of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, volume 28, pages 222-223 (1982). Although the Jews did not believe in the Egyptian gods or religion, the parallels include:
- Mentions of ritual washing with special herbs (Psalm 51:2,7).
- Restoration of broken bones (verse 8).
- "O Lord, open thou my lips" (verse 15).
- Sacrifices (verses 16,17, 19).
In Popular Culture
American brutal death metal band Nile have a song entitled "Opening of the Mouth" on their 1998 album "Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka" which describes this process.
References and external links
- ^ "The Opening of the mouth ritual". University College London
- ^ Lichtheim, Miriam (1976). Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol 2. London, England: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-02965-8.
- Ancient Egyptian burial customs
- The Opening of the Mouth Ritual by Marie Parsons
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Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 9 November 2008, at 17:07.
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