MY DIARYDiary of an Egyptian Embalmer

21 OF JANUARYWHY EGYPTIANS MUMMIFY?

Dear diary,Today I am going to talk about why, we Egyptians mummify humans. We believe that everyone has a soul, we call them, Ba and Ka. Ba is a bird with a human head. And Ka is the twin of each person. We believe that when one of us dies Ba and Ka leaves our body. Ba and Ka don’t stay peacefully near us, instead during the day Ba returns to live with the family of the dead person. And during night Ba flies to the body in its tomb to rest. Ka instead, travel's to and from the body to the other world. So, our body can’t decay for us to be able to live forever ,therefore, it has to be preserved so Ba and Ka can be able to find and recognize the body to rest, in order to live forever.

There is two ways for our bodies to be preserved. For poor people, since they don’t have money their body has to be preserved naturally. It is the hot dry sand of the dessert that preserves them. Pharaohs and nobles are mummified instead, we mummify them to make sure that their bodies will last for all eternity. The body has to last for all eternity because we Egyptians believe that pharaohs became gods in the afterlife.

23 OF JANUARY THE MUMMIFICATION PROCESS- EMBALMING

Dear diary,Today I will be talking about the embalming process I have to do when I mummify a human. These are the steps:

1. First, we undress the body and place him/her on a wooden tables, the top of the table has bars of wood, which makes it easier for embalming.

2. Second, we remove the brain by placing a chisel up their left nostril and breaking through into the skull. We then throw the brain away because we don’t think that the brain will be too important in the afterlife.

3. We then fill the empty skull with a packing of natron and plaster.4. Then we make a cut , approximately 10cm, in the left side of the body.5. After, we take out the whole contents of the stomach, this is important to remove because it is

the first part of our body to decompose.6. To keep the shape of the body we stuff the body with linen rags. Notice we only leave the heart

inside because this is very important for when it will be weighted later in the afterlife. And we believe that it is the centre of intelligence and the feeling of a man.

7. Then the body is placed in natron for 70 days.

23 OF JANUARY THE MUMMIFICATION PROCESS- EMBALMING

8. The liver, lungs, stomach, and intestines are washed, then we pack them in natron, which will dry them out.

9. After 70 days pass the body is washed with water from the Nile. Then it is covered with oils which helps the skin stay elastic.

10. Finally, when the internal organs are dry we return them to the body. In the past, internal organs were removed from the body, and after they had been dried in natron instead of being returned to the body they were placed in canopic jars. Now, canopic jars are still buried with the mummy to symbolically protect the internal organs.

25 OF JANUARY CANOPIC JARS

Dear diary,Yesterday I mentioned that in the past internal organs were removed from the body, and after they had been dried in natron instead of being returned to the body they were placed in canopic jars. There are four canopic jars, they are made out of either wood or stone. Each one looks after one internal organ. Here are the four canopic jars:

Imsety the human-headed god looks after the liver.

The baboon-headed god, Hapy, looks after the lungs.

Duamutef the jackal-headed god looks after the stomach .

The falcon-headed god, called Qebehsenuef looks after the intestines.

26 OF JANUARY THE MUMMIFICATION PROCESS- WRAPPING THE MUMMY

Dear diary, Two days ago I talked about embalming a human. Today I will be talking about the wrapping procces. Which is what we do after embalming. These are the steps:’

11. First we wrap the head and the neck with strips of fine linen.12. Second, the fingers and toes are wrapped individually.13. Then the arms and legs are wrapped individually.14. Between the layers of wrappings we, embalmers place amulets to protect the mummy in the

journey through the underworld and to keep away evil spirits, also prayers may be written on papyrus paper and wrapped in the bandages, these will also keep away evil spirits .

15. These are two important amulets that we mostly place on the mummy:

16. Also, while the mummy is being wrapped the priest will read spells out loud. These spells will help by warding off evil spirits and help the mummy make the journey to the afterlife.

This is the ‘Plummet’ amulet which will keep the person balanced in the next life.

This is the ‘Isis knot’ amulet which will protect the body.

Wrapping the mummy continued on next page.

26 OF JANUARY THE MUMMIFICATION PROCESS- WRAPPING THE MUMMY

17. Then, the arms and legs are tied together and a papyrus scroll with spells from The Book of the Dead is placed between the wrapped hands.

18. More bandages are then wrapped around the body and the bandages are painted with liquid resin that helps glue the bandages together. Bandages can sometimes be 375 square meters.

19. Then, the mask for the head is made. The mask has to look like the person so that Ba and Ka will recognize the body. Also the mask is covered with gold.

20. After, a cloth is wrapped aroud the body with a picture of Osiris painted on the surface.

21. Then a large cloth is wrapped all around the mummy. It is attached with strips of linen, that run to the bottom and around the middle of the mummy.

22. And finally the mummy is put in a wooden coffin.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

28 OF JANUARYTHE FUNERAL

Dear diary,Today I will be talking about the funeral. The first thing that happens is that the first coffin is put into the second coffin. Second, the opening of the mouth ceremony is performed. This is important because it allows the mummy to eat, drink and talk in the afterlife. Then the body and the coffin are placed inside a large stone called sarcophagus. Then the sarcophagus with the mummy are either placed in a tomb or in a pyramid. Furniture, clothing, valuable objects, foods, and drinks are arranged in the tomb for the deceased After we sing a funeral song for the dead person. One that we usually sing goes like this:O gods take this man into your house,Let him hear just as you hear,Let him see just as you see,Let him stand just as you stand,Let him take his seat just as you take your seat.And finally they have a funeral party, were the deceased and his family mourns his death.