Religious Rituals
The Egyptians believed that the living, the dead,
and the gods all had the same basic needs shelter, food and drink,
washing, rest, and recreation. The living were accommodated in
houses, the dead were provided with tombs, and the gods resided in
temples. Food was supplied for the dead by means of the funerary
cult, and the god’s needs were met through the divine rituals.
Once performed within certain areas of the temple, they are still depicted and preserved in the scenes carved and painted on many of the interior walls of the temple. Usually arranged in two or three horizontal registers, some scenes have a formal content or depict a single, important event in the reign such as the king’s coronation or the foundation or consecration of the temple. Others, however, represent rituals that were once performed regularly in certain areas of the temple. Arranged in a particular sequence and order, these show the content of each rite, while the accompanying inscriptions provide its title and the speeches of the god and king as the king performs the sacred actions for the god. The scenes not only supply evidence that indicates the ritual use of that area or chamber but also preserve important information about the rituals that were once enacted in the temple. It was believed that the Ceremony of Opening the Mouth, performed at the consecration of the temple when it was formally handed over to the resident god, would recharge the vital energy of the building and all the wall reliefs and statues within it. The temple would thus assume all the spiritual potency of the original “Island of Creation,” the location it sought to re-create, and the rituals depicted in the wall scenes would through magic continue to be performed on behalf of the god even if the rites should be discontinued at any time. .
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Daily Temple Rituals
One group of temple rituals was enacted on a daily basis, and these followed the same pattern for all temple gods throughout the country. The Daily Temple Ritual was carried out in all divine and royal cult complexes from at least as early as Dynasty 18. It provided a ritualized and dramatized version of the mundane processes of washing, clothing, and feeding the god’s cult statue in the sanctuary. The priest (acting as the king’s delegate) entered the sanctuary each morning and lifted the god’s statue out of its box shrine and placed it on the altar immediately in front. He then removed its clothing and makeup of the previous day, before fumigating the image with different kinds of incense and presenting it with balls of natron (which the Egyptians chewed in order to cleanse the breath). The priest then dressed the statue in fresh clothes, decorated its face with makeup, and presented it with jewelry and insignia. Finally he gave the god the morning meal and withdrew backwards from the sanctuary. He presented two other meals at noon and in the evening before replacing the statue in the box shrine. This ritual included elements from the mythologies of Re and Osiris and was intended to revitalize the god and reaffirm his daily rebirth. Neglect of these duties would, it was believed, ensure the return of chaos, the state that had prevailed before the universe was created. Correct observance of the rites would, however, be rewarded by divine favor: Temple religion, based on a compact between gods and men, ensured that the gods received temples, food, and other offerings, and booty from military campaigns in return for their gifts of power, fame, immortality, and success in battle for the king and fertility, peace, and prosperity for Egypt and its people. From the New Kingdom onward another ritual was performed in the royal cult complexes at the conclusion of the Daily Temple Ritual. Known as the “Ritual of the Royal Ancestors,” this attempted to ensure that the former legitimate kings of Egypt gave their support to the reigning king. After his death this ruler would join them, and so the ritual also sought to gain benefits and eternal sustenance for him. The food was removed from the god’s altar at the conclusion of the Daily Temple Ritual and taken to another area of the temple. After some preliminary rites it was offered to the ancestors (usually represented in the temple in the form of a list of kings inscribed on a wall). The food was subsequently removed intact from this altar and taken outside the temple to be divided among the priests as their daily payment. In the divine cult complexes this division took place immediately after the Daily Temple Ritual. .
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Festival Rituals
The second group of rituals represented the festivals. These did not follow the same order in all the temples but varied from place to place, reflecting the unique mythology of each deity. They were held at regular, often annual, intervals and celebrated special events in the gods’ lives. Festivals which marked the annual death and resurrection of Osiris, god of the dead, and the conjugal visits between other famous deities were most popular. Some stages of these events were performed inside the temples, but there were also celebrations outside the temple enclosure when the god’s portable statue was paraded in a sacred boat and carried among the crowds. This public procession was the only occasion when the masses had the opportunity to see the god and participate in his worship. These were noisy and spectacular events accompanied by singing and dancing, and the most important festivals attracted large numbers of pilgrims who traveled from all over Egypt. . Role of the King Although the priests acted as the god’s servants and in reality performed all the rituals, it was the figure of the king who was shown performing this role in all the temple wall scenes. This preserved the fiction that he alone carried out every rite in all the temples. As the incarnation of the god Horus and the son of Re and divine heir only he could act as mankind’s agent in the presence of the gods. The Egyptians considered the rituals to be effective only if they were enacted by the king to whom the gods had given the rulerships; only he could attend to their needs and execute their orders. Originally each tribal chieftain had performed all the rites on behalf of the local god, but in later times the kings could not personally attend to all the state and religious duties. These were largely delegated to senior officials and functionaries, although the king may have continued to perform the Daily Temple Ritual in the main temple of the chief god and to attend the consecration ceremony of each temple built during his reign. .
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Religious Rituals
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