The Opening of the Mouth Ceremony from the Sacred Pyramid Texts

Hand painted

The ceremony involved a 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 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 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.

Dimensions:

20cm / 7.8 inches tall
30cm / 11.8 inches wide

Papyrus is the worlds first paper!

Created by the Ancient Egyptians, papyrus has been used as a paper for over 4500 years!

Each Papyri is

- Hand-made
- Hand-painted
- Authentically Egyptian
- Packaged with a certificate of authenticity & protective plastic sleeve

(All Papyrus is hand-made & hand-painted, so yours may differ slightly from that in the photo)