A burial in Ancient Egypt

After the elaborate mummification procedure had come to an end, the mummy
inside its coffin began its final journey to its tomb - it house for eternity.
The story of the burial depends upon records left by royalty, courtiers, high
officials and those wealthy enough to be able to afford a grand burial, little is
known of the burials given to the ordinary Egyptians.
The day of the Funeral
Friends, family and professional mourners would gather at the home of the
deceased, here they would begin the long procession to the tomb carrying items to
accompany the deceased in the Beyond, and to show their grief.

female mourners from the tomb of Ramose TT55

Special items of the deceased were also taken to the tomb - these may have been
personal items which had been a favourite or had been used as part of their
professional career.
It was also at this time that the important funerary items such as the Canopic
Jars and Ushabti were carryed to the tomb. A statue of the deceased was also
part of the procession, accompanied by the Sem-Priest (identifiable by his
traditional panther skin), and then the mummy itself.
Slowly the funeral procession would make its' way to the banks of the Nile, here
boats would ferry them across the river - the mourners would take the first boat,
the second boat would take only the mummy, Sem-Priest and two female mourners
(representing Isis and Nephthys), other boats would take any remaining mourners
as well as servants and grave goods.

The Wabet
On crossing the Nile the funeral procession made its way to the 'Wabet' additional purification may have taken place here (if the body had never been
returned to its family, then the full mummification proceedure may have been
performed here). Now the mummy began the final stage of its journey, the
journey into the cemetery of the dead.

The Muu dancers - these strange dancers would met the funeral procession
somewhere along its way and then perform a strange ritualistic dance, although
the dancers were both men and women some dances could only be performed by
men.
The Opening of the Mouth Ceremony
At the entrance to the tomb, the mummy was raised to an upright position, the
Sem-Priest would then speak the words of ritual while lesser-ranked priests would
purify the coffin with water and incense. At this point a 'adze' was raised to the
lips of the face of the coffin / mummy - the adze was raised in this way twice,
then a forked instrument (a Pesesh-Kef) a knife or wand touched the mummy this was very important! - Now the senses of the mummy were magically restored an ox was then slaughtered and one its forelegs offered to the face of the
mummy (with the possible reason of restoring the sexual powers ofthe deceased).

The opening of the Mouth ritual could have more than a hundred episodes - such
as: Lustrations, Fumigations, Repeated Anointing, Touching of the face with an

Adze and so on. A priest might also sink into a trance to go in search of the
deceased to return them to their body.
The Offering Ritual
Once the ceremonies outside the tomb had been completed, Lector Priests
(usually three or four priests) would then recite an Offering Ritual at the false
door of the tomb - it was the purpose of the Offering Ritual to make certain that
the Ka of the deceased had sustenance for etnerity, and also to cause him/her to
'become an akh'. It was either or during this Offering Ritual that the coffin /
sarcophagus was finally placed inside the tomb along with the grave goods, once all
had been completed the priests left the tomb, sweeping the floor as they left.
Outside the mourners shared in a funeral feast in honour of the deceased, they
would feast upon meat from cattle which had been slaughtered especially for the
funeral.
The family of the deceased would return to the tomb as long as they were able, or
as long as the deceased was remembered, to leave offerings - in this way the
Offering Ritual would be reiterated, and the would ensure the the KA would
continue to enjoy the Afterlife (an annual festival - 'Feast of the Valley' - would
see the living cross over the river to visit the tombs of their deceased, the feast
would include feasts and festivals and for a short while the dead would be amongst
the living once more).
Possible reasoning behind the use and shape of the adze and foreleg of an Ox.
As noted above, during the Opening of the Mouth ceremony both an adze and
foreleg of an Ox were placed against the lips of the coffin / statue of the
deceased, it has been noted that there is a similarity in shape between both these
objects and the constellation of the Great Bear (Ursa Major):

Left: the constellation of the

Great Bear interpreted as an
adze (top) and as the foreleg
of an Ox (bottom)

above the use of an adze in

the Opening of the Mouth
ceremony
This use of the Great Bear constellation may hint at the location of the realm of
the dead - in some conceptions, the ancient Egyptians placed the location of the
Afterlife in the region of the circumpolar stars. (An article which covers this
theory in more detail is by Ann Macy Roth and may be found in JEA 79).