Embalming and mummification is a very important part of Egyptian culture. Egyptians believe strongly in an afterlife, and mummification preserves the earthly body, so the body’s spirit can live on in peace. Each person has three spirits: the Ka, the Ba, and the Akh. These spirits move on to the afterlife once a person has died. If the embalming fails or the body is harmed the Ka, the spirit that is connected to the body, can’t move on, risking the persons immortality.
Our tour of the Royal Ibu and Mummifying Center takes us through the procedure of embalming and mummification.
Our tour of the Royal Ibu and Mummifying Center takes us through the procedure of embalming and mummification.
The process of embalming and mummifying is long and extensive. Following death, the body is taken to a tent know as an ibu; here the body is purified, and washed with palm wine and Nile water. The next step is for an incision to be made and the organs are removed, and then the innards will be surrounded by a natural salt, called natron to dry them out. Even the brain is removed trough the nostrils via a hook. Though the liver, stomach, intestines, lungs and brain have been removed, the heart remains with the body for the afterlife. The body is continuously dried with natron, and after forty days washed with Nile water and oils. The removed organs have now been dried and are returned to the body, or put in canopic jars shaped like gods. The body is sometimes stuffed to make it more convincing as a human.