Opening of the mouth ceremony

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The Opening of the mouth ceremony (or ritual) was an ancient Egyptian ritual described in funerary texts such as the Pyramid Texts. The ritual involved the symbolic animation of a statue or mummy by pretending to open its mouth so that it could breathe. Sometimes special tools were used to open the mouth. One of these was a sort of adze made from meteoric iron. The Opening of the mouth ceremony was performed so that the person could speak and breathe in the afterlife. There is an evidence of this ritual from the Old Kingdom onwards, and its main purpose was to revive the deceased or deified person. This ritual is recorded up to Roman Period. It involved various complex actions to enable the deceased to accept offerings and participate in cult rituals.

[edit] Connection with Psalm 51

Scholar Benjamin Urrutia pointed out some connections between Psalm 51 and the Opening of the Mouth. "Psalm 51 and the 'Opening of the Mouth' Ceremony. Scripta Hierosolymitana: Publications of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, volume 28, Egyptological Studies, pages 222-223 (1982).