The Book of Opening the Mouth

Under the earliest dynasties this ceremony was performed on a statue of the Pharaoh. Water was sprinkled before it, and incense was burnt, and the statue was anointed with seven kinds of unguents, and its eyes smeared with eye paint. After the statue had been washed and dressed a meal of sepulchral offerings was set before it. The essential ceremony consisted in applying to the lips of the statue a curiously shaped instrument called the PESH KEF, with which the bandages that covered the mouth of the dead Pharaoh in his tomb were supposed to be cut and the mouth set free to open. In later times the Liturgy of Opening the Mouth was greatly enlarged and was called the Book of Opening the Mouth. The ceremonies were performed by the Kher-heb priest, the son of the deceased, and the priests and ministrants called Sameref, Sem, Smer, Am-as, Am-khent, and the assistants called Mesentiu. First of all incense was burnt, and the priest said, "Thou art pure," four times. Water was then sprinkled over the statue and the priest said, "Thou art pure. Thou art pure. Thy purifications are the purifications of Horus, and the purifications of Horus are thy purifications." This formula was repeated three times, once with the name of Seth, once with the name of Thoth, and once with the name of Sep. The priest then said, "Thou hast received thy head, and thy bones have been brought unto thee before Keb." During the performance of the next five ceremonies, in which incense of various kinds was offered, the priest said: "Thou art pure (four times). That which is in the two eyes of Horus hath been presented unto thee with the two vases of Thoth, and they purify thee so that there may not exist in thee the power of destruction that belongeth unto thee. Thou art pure. Thou art pure. Pure is the _seman_ incense that openeth thy mouth. Taste the taste thereof in the divine dwelling. _Seman_ incense is the emission of Horus; it stablisheth the heart of Horus-Seth, it purifieth the gods who are in the following of Horus. Thou art censed with natron. Thou art established among the gods thy brethren. Thy mouth is like that of a sucking calf on the day of its birth. Thou art censed. Thou art censed. Thou art pure. Thou art pure. Thou art established among thy brethren the gods. Thy head is censed. Thy mouth is censed. Thy bones are purified. that is inherent in thee shall not touch thee. I have given thee the Eye of Horus, and thy face is filled therewith. Thou art shrouded in incense."

The next ceremony, the ninth, represented the re-birth of the Pharaoh, who was personified by a priest. The priest, wrapped in the skin of a bull, lay on a small bed and feigned death. When the chief priest had said, "O my father," four times, the priest representing the Pharaoh came forth from the bull's skin, and sat up; this act symbolized the resurrection of the Pharaoh in the form of a spirit-body (_sahu_). The chief priest then asserted that the Pharaoh was alive, and that he should never be removed, and that he was similar in every way to Horus. The priest personifying the Pharaoh then put on a special garment, and taking a staff or sceptre in his hand, said, "I love my father and his transformation. I have made my father, I have made a statue of him, a large statue. Horus loveth those who love him." He then pressed the lips of the statue, and said, "I have come to embrace thee. I am thy son. I am Horus. I have pressed for thee thy mouth.... I am thy beloved son." The words then said by the chief priest, "I have delivered this mine eye from his mouth, I have cut off his leg," mean that the Pharaoh was delivered from the jaws of death, and that a grievous wound had been inflicted on the god of death, Seth

Whilst these ceremonies were being performed the animals brought to be sacrificed were slain. Chief of these were two bulls, gazelle, geese, &c., and their slaughter typified the conquest and death of the enemies of the dead Pharaoh. The heart and a fore-leg of each bull were presented to the statue of the Pharaoh, and the priest said: "Hail, Osiris! I have come to embrace thee. I am Horus. I have pressed for thee thy mouth. I am thy beloved Son. I have opened thy mouth. Thy mouth hath been made firm. I have made thy mouth and thy teeth to be in their proper places. Hail, Osiris! I have opened thy mouth with the Eye of Horus." Then taking two instruments made of metal the priest went through the motion of cutting open the mouth and eyes of the statue, and said: "I have opened thy mouth. I have opened thy two eyes. I have opened thy mouth with the instrument of Anpu. I have opened thy mouth with the Meskha instrument wherewith the mouth of the gods was opened. Horus openeth the mouth and eyes of the Osiris. Horus openeth the mouth of the Osiris even as he opened the mouth of his father. As he opened the mouth of the god Osiris so shall he open the mouth of my father with the iron that cometh forth from Seth, with the Meskha instrument of iron wherewith he opened the mouth of the gods shall the mouth of the Osiris be opened. And the Osiris shall walk and shall talk, and his body shall be with the Great Company of the gods who dwell in the Great House of the Aged One (_i.e._ the Sun-god) who dwelleth in Anu. And he shall take possession of the Urrt Crown therein before Horus, the Lord of mankind. Hail, Osiris! Horus hath opened thy mouth and thine eyes with the instruments Sebur and An, wherewith the mouths of the gods of the South were opened.... All the gods bring words of power. They recite them for thee. They make thee to live by them. Thou becomest the possessor of twofold strength. Thou makest the passes that give thee the fluid of life, and their life fluid is about thee. Thou art protected, and thou shalt not die. Thou shalt change thy form among the Doubles of the gods. Thou shalt rise up as a Pharaoh of the South. Thou shalt rise up as a Pharaoh of the North. Thou art endowed with strength like all the gods and their Doubles. Shu hath equipped thee. He hath exalted thee to the height of heaven. He hath made thee to be a wonder. He hath endowed thee with strength."

The ceremonies that followed concerned the dressing of the statue of the Pharaoh and his food. Various kinds of bandlets and a collar were presented, and the gift of each endowed the Pharaoh in the Other World with special qualities. The words recited by the priest as he offered these and other gifts were highly symbolic, and were believed to possess great power, for they brought the Double of the Pharaoh back to this earth to live in the statue, and each time they were repeated they renewed the life of the Pharaoh in the Other World.