Opening of the mouth ceremony

From the Old Kingdom to the Roman Period, there is ample evidence of this ceremony, which was believed to give the deceased their fundamental senses to carry out tasks in the afterlife.

Various practices were conducted on the corpse, including the use of specific instruments to touch body parts like the mouth and eyes.

For instance, cutting bloody meat from animals as offerings for the deceased signified the birthing process, which typically involves blood, and represented the commencement of a new life.

Additionally, tools like the peseshkef, which resembled the tail of a fish and were originally employed for cutting infants' umbilical cords, further emphasized the idea of "rebirth".

[1] The ancient Egyptians held the belief that to reach the afterlife, one must pass through a series of arduous trials in the duat, which involve evading perilous creatures and traps.

To prepare for these trials, individuals would have special spells and directions inscribed on their sarcophagus on how to avoid such hazards, known as coffin texts.

The opening of the mouth ceremony was believed to grant their spirits access to these senses and requirements upon death.

Moreover, reciting spells and asserting their innocence before the gods after completing the duat required the use of senses such as hearing, seeing, and speaking.

[2] Some texts of the ceremony such as in the tomb of Rekhmire describe this and use the instruments to touch the statue in the appropriate places of its body.

During the Old Kingdom, it is evident that these objects were initially employed to sever umbilical cords during childbirth, a practice that aligns with its spiritual association with rebirth.

They would then begin touching areas of the statue such as the eyes and mouth with instruments like the ceremonial adze, and present the tools including the peseshkef to it from episodes 26-41.

Translating literally as "opening of the mouth," the Egyptian terms for the ritual are wpt-r and um-r.