Ancient Egyptian Rituals

Imagine being in ancient Egypt, being a priest and in the middle of the daily ritual. You are in you full silk outfit with papyrus sandals. This is what it was like for ancient Egypt priests and their rituals. In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh and the gods were at the top of the social class pyramid. Under them, there were priests, government officials and scribes. This group was above the shopkeepers, traders and artisans. Under them was herders and farmers. Last but not least, there were the unskilled workers. A famous quote was, “The kingdom of heaven is within you; and whosoever shall know himself shall find it.” In ancient Egypt, priests and rituals were very important in many ways.

Priests were called hem-netjer. Hem-netjer means “servant

To begin the rituals, to enter the afterlife people were expected to perform rituals for gods and goddesses. These rituals were performed at births, funerals, festivals and royal coronations. Another ritual that the priests lead was, every morning priests would enter a sanctuary and rub the god’s statue with oil and perfume. Then, the priest would paint on the statue and ceremonial clothing on the statue. Some offerings that the priests made was meat, bread and fruit. To add to that, there are seven sacraments, or rules, in the Christian/Catholic religion. The ancient Egypt people had to follow the seven sacraments. The seven sacraments are Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the sick, Matrimony and Holy Orders. Also, rituals were known as western theatre art. In addition, in festivals, people would sell food and souvenirs. The people of ancient Egypt believed that everything was controlled by the gods and goddesses. Animal cults were very important in Egyptian religion. Osiris had an animal cult that was called the Apis Bull. The Apis Bull was a black calf with markings on its body, a diamond-shaped white patch on the forehead and another mark under its tongue. The Apis Bull was dressed with colorful cloth and flowers and was led through the streets by priests. Rituals were extremely important in ancient Egypt so the gods would stay