Who’s Your Mummy?
Mini Fact: This art of a body being mummified was found in the tomb of Bannantiu in Bahariya Oasis in Egypt.
Will you be trick-or-treating on Halloween? Along with monsters, witches and ghosts, you might see a mummy or two collecting candy.
But did you know that real mummies weren’t meant to be scary at all? For some ancient Egyptians, mummification was just a way of preparing their loved ones for burial after they died.
A happy afterlife
Ancient Egyptians believed that after people died, they would have an afterlife, or a next life. They wanted loved ones to enjoy the next life, so they tried to provide things they would need.
In a tomb, they might put furniture, food, clothing, jewelry, artwork, prayers, and statues of servants to go with the body into the next life.
Mummification was also used by other societies, such as the Incas of South America, the Chinese, and the Anasazi people of the American Southwest. In more modern times, former Soviet leader V.I. Lenin and Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung both were mummified. Making a mummy
Before an Egyptian funeral, the body was mummified. It took special priests about 70 days to make a mummy. They performed religious ceremonies as they worked.
• First, some of the vital organs were removed. The brain was thought to be the least important organ. It was removed by inserting a hook through the nose, and then it was thrown away.
Sometimes organs were put into jars and buried with the mummy. Other times they were wrapped in linen and put back into the body.
• Next, the body was covered with natron, a type of salt that dried it out. Packets of natron were placed inside the body.
• When the body was dry, the packets were removed and the salt was washed off. Bundles of linen and other materials, including cinnamon, sawdust and onions, were put inside the body. False eyes were sometimes put into place.
• Priests then wrapped the body with linen. They used many long strips. To protect the body on its journey, they might write words on the strips, or place amulets, or charms, between the layers.
During this process, a coat of warm resin, a sap from pine and fir trees, was put on the linen, and then wrapping continued.
• The mummy was then placed in a decorated coffin made of wood, stone or even gold. The coffin then might be placed in a sarcophagus (sar-COF-uh-gus), a wood or stone box, for burial.