The Opening of The Mouth Ceremony

By Crusader1307

An Ancient Egyptian Funerary Ritual The ''Opening of The Mouth'' Ceremony can be traced back to 2,800 BC and Egypt's ''Old Kingdom'' Period. The Ritual is mentioned in Pyramid and Coffin Texts and well as the iconic ''Book of The Dead''. The ceremony was extremely important to the Deceased. Without it, He or She would be ''unable to speak or breath'' in The Afterlife. In the Ritual, Priests would raise a miniature Adze (Bladed Axe) or Spoon known as a Peseshkaf to the mouth of The Deceased (after having completed the long process of mummification). The devices were meant to symbolically ''open the Mouth'' by which The Deceased ''Spirit'' would be able to ''function as a Human'' in death. If no such Ritual was performed, great misfortune could befall the Deceased. With ''sight'' and the ability to ''consume food'' in The Afterlife, the Deceased would fall prey to demonic attacks, become lost in The Afterlife and their ''Spirit starving'' for food. This could also invoke various curses visited upon The Family or even Kingdom as a whole. Some of these might be ''Darkness through The Land'' (blindness) and Famine (destroyed Crops). Both of these ''curses'' arose from failure to invoke The Ritual.