Brain removed, cadaver drying. Here is a funeral in ancient Egypt

Soon cemeteries in Poland will be filled with candles and wreaths. This tradition is older than Christianity itself. In the art of preparing the dead for burial and eternal life, we owe a lot to ancient Egypt. Therefore, it is worth knowing how the mummies, which became a permanent fixture in world pop culture, were created.

1. The Egyptians dried the corpses in the mummification process. They believed that the soul would reunite with the body after death
2. For this purpose, the brain, major organs and eyes of the deceased were removed. Then a drying period of up to 70 days began
3. The cut entrails were placed in separate urns, the so-called canopy urns
4. You can find more similar stories on the TvoiLokony home page

Halloween and mummies. Where did the mummies come from?

Halloween is coming soon. It is a festival related to ghosts, vampires, zombies and also mummies. This day will not be complete without watching horror films in which mummies, or mummified corpses, have been heroes for almost a hundred years.

The 1932 «Mummy» with an excellent performance by Boris Karloff is already a classic of the genre. They were not only scared by mummies. Films about mummies were parodied (“Abbott and Costello meet a mummy” from 1955), and in recent times, stories with an embalmed and bandaged monster in the background have been mainly the occasion to create spectacular shows. This was the case with the series of films from 1999-2008 with Brendan Fraser in the lead role or the film «The Mummy» from 2017 with Tom Cruise.

So let’s remember how mummies were created.

One of the greatest concerns of the inhabitants of ancient Egypt was death. It was at this point that the soul would separate from the body. In order for both elements to be able to connect again in the afterlife, it was necessary to take care of the body so that it would remain in the best condition, i.e. mummify it.

The brain is removed through the nose

In the simplest sense, mummification is a series of treatments aimed at removing moisture from the body in order to stop the decomposition processes. Preparations began on the day of death. On that day, it was sent to an embalming workshop outside the city. First, the brain, major organs and eyes of the deceased were removed through the nose. Then the drying period beganwhich used natron, a moisture-absorbing mineral found in the sediments of some salt lakes in Egypt.

Blood, water, stomach contents, and the products of voiding and defecation – all of these had to disappear. To this end, the body was poured several times with hot resin, which was to harden and stick the body and prevent moisture from getting inside. The empty eye sockets were filled with linen rags and the bandages were wrapped around each part of the body..

Medallions and amulets were inserted between the layers of the canvas to protect the body from damage. Additionally, special spells were written on the bandages themselves. At the end, the whole body was wrapped in bandages, wrapped in a linen shroud and additionally tied with straps that were to maintain this intricate structure. The body was placed in a sarcophagus, then carried (if it was someone from the royal family) on a boat that took it along the Nile to its resting place, most often to the Valley of the Kings.

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The guts ended up in urns

What about the guts pulled out? They, too, were being prepared for the funeral. They ended up in four separate urns, called canopies. Each of them was dedicated to a separate deity. Isis guarded the liver, Nephtyda – the lungs, Neith – the stomach, and Selkit – the intestines.

1. Take a look: She died, but her cells are alive. The amazing story of “immortal” Henrietta Lacks

The next stage was the burial. The Egyptians themselves left information about what this rite looked like – scenes showing step by step funeral customs have survived on the walls of the tombs. They were very solemn and spectacular moments. The sarcophagus with the body of the deceased was pulled by oxen on special skids. The funeral procession following the sarcophagus, in addition to the family and priests, included professional weeps, shouting and lamenting about dying the person being hidden.

There were also ritual dances. The tomb, on the other hand, became the deceased’s new home, which is why things that he used during his lifetime and that could be useful in the afterlife were placed there.

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