Ancient Egypt is one of the oldest and most well-known civilizations in our world. It is famous for its architecture, culture, and many other things. And in this ancient world, many different masks were used as a part of their culture. There were two basic types of masks used. Those used for rituals, such as the Opening of the mouth, and those used to cover the face and head of the mummy. The masks themselves were designed to appear as one of many of ancient Egypt's gods. One of these Gods was Anubis. Who just so happened to be the God of death and embalming. Like all the gods, Anubis held a huge significance in the Egyptian culture. Anubis was the god of death and embalming. He is also represented to have a head of a jackal. This …show more content…
Everyone is aware of Egypt and its mummies. Without Anubis, the embalming rituals and ceremonies would be very different from what we know today. And during the embalming and mummification process, the practitioners would also wear a mask of Anubis, since he was the god of death and embalming. Often these masks were used by the priests during embalming and funerary ceremonies. From what we know, there are only a few surviving masks of Anubis that were meant to be adorned by that of the living. In particular, there is one that in appearance looks like the jackal-headed god and actually allowed the wearer to speak.
During the embalming of a body, there were multiple types of ceremonies. One of the religious funerary rituals was the “Opening of the Mouth”. During this ceremony, each priest would wear a mask of Anubis. Most of them wearing a mask that completely covered their faces. A priest would hold the body up while another priest, which was adorned with a mask allowing them to speak, would commence the ceremony. As it commenced, the priest would touch the eyes, nose, ears, and of course the mouth to restore the five senses to the body and thus reanimating the dead body to then continue with the