The opening of the mouth ceremony (or ritual) was an ancient Egyptian ritual described in

funerary text Funerary texts or funerary literature feature in many belief systems. Its purpose is usually to provide guidance to the newly deceased or the soon-to-be-deceased about how to survive and prosper in the afterlife. Antiquity The most famous example ...

s such as the

Pyramid Texts The Pyramid Texts are the oldest ancient Egyptian funerary texts, dating to the late Old Kingdom. They are the earliest known corpus of ancient Egyptian religious texts. Written in Old Egyptian, the pyramid texts were carved onto the subterran ...

. ''PeseshKaf'' is an instrument used for this ritual, ''psš'' (“an instrument for Opening of the mouth”) + ''kꜣf'' (“obsidian”). This instrument was made of stone and shaped like the tail of a fish.

Funerary magic

The ceremony involved a symbolic animation of a

statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...

mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay fu ...

by magically opening its mouth so that it could breathe and speak. There is evidence of this ritual from the

Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth ...

to the Roman Period. Special tools were used to perform the ceremony, such as a ritual

adze An adze (; alternative spelling: adz) is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing ...

, an arm shaped ritual censer, a spooned 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 ancient Egyptians believed that in order for a person's soul to survive in the

afterlife The afterlife (also referred to as life after death) is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's identity or their stream of consciousness continues to live after the death of their physical body. The surviving es ...

it would need to have food and water. The opening of the mouth ritual was thus performed so that the person who died could eat and drink again in the afterlife. The ceremony involved up to 75 "episodes" and, in its most complete version, included the following stages: *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 The ''Book of the Dead'' ( egy, 𓂋𓏤𓈒𓈒𓈒𓏌𓏤𓉐𓂋𓏏𓂻𓅓𓉔𓂋𓅱𓇳𓏤, ''rw n(y)w prt m hrw(w)'') is an ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom ( ...

also contains a spell for this process, which the deceased may use on themselves: Translating literally as "opening of the mouth," the Egyptian terms for the ritual are ''wpt-r'' and ''um-r.'' According to Ann Macy Roth, the verb ''wpi'' connotes an opening that splits, divides or separates: "it can be used, for example, to describe the separation of two combatants, the dividing of time, or even an analysis or determination of the truth."

Connections with Psalm 51

Parallels between the Opening of the Mouth and

Psalm 51 Psalm 51, one of the penitential psalms, is the 51st psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Have mercy upon me, O God". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vu ...

have been noted. Benjamin Urrutia, "Psalm 51 and the 'Opening of the Mouth' Ceremony." ''Scripta Hierosolymitana: Publications of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem'', volume 28, pages 222–223 (1982). 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, and 19).

References

{{Ancient Egyptian religion footer, collapsed Ancient Egyptian funerary practices Mouth Psalms

Funerary magic

Connections with Psalm 51

See also

References