The Nile River when it was full - source.
Oh no. There is a drought here in Egypt. The Pharaoh must be really worried. If he isn't, he should be. All the people are so thirsty, and animals are dying everywhere. There are alot of people without eyelashes, their cats must have died... Ours did a few years back, and my eyelashes have taken a while to grow back.
Anyways (I always get sidetracked), I have to find water for Amun somewhere, soon. And for our crops. If I do not water our food, me and Amun will not have any food at all, and will die.
I went to my mother again a few nights ago, and she taught me some useful recipes to make with the crops I am growing. It is really hard to make recipes without actual ingredients, and just imagining while sitting on the ground.
(source)
She also taught me the complete process of mummification. It is a lot more detailed and intricate than I imagined, but I guess most things are not what you imagine. Here are the steps...
1 - Get a Jackal mask to dress up as the god Anubis. Memorise the spells and chants from the book of the dead, and repeat them over and over while doing the process.
2 - Wash the body with water, or palm wine.
3 - You grab a long hook, and push it up through the left nostril. Grab onto the brain and pull it around and jab at the brain to loosen it. Turn the body over and let the brain run into a bowl. Throw it away.
4 - Cut the left side of the stomach open. Take out the liver, lungs, intestines and stomach. Do not remove the heart.
5 - Put natron on all of the internal organs to absorb all the moisture. Then rub them with oils and resin, then wrap them in linen bandages. Place each organ into a separate cynoptic jar. Make sure you put each organ into the right jar.
6 - Cover the body in natron, and leave it for 40 days to dry. Then once 40 days is up, rub the body with oils and ointments. Put perfumed linen into the stomach cavity and sew up the opening.
7 - Put the magic charm over the stomach wound and a scarab over the heart. Wrap the entire body with linen bandages dipped in gum. Wrap each part separately. Place amulets such as ankhs in the bandages, too. The dead persons soul will use these in the journey to the kingdom of Osiris.
8 - Put a mask made of linen and glue over the body's head and shoulders. If there is time, paint or cover it with gold leaf. Next place a panel across the top part of the body, decorated with protective symbols and drawings.
9 - Place the completed mummy in a coffin that is shaped as a body. Make sure the coffin has been decorated with jewels, paintings and inscriptions of spells. Also make sure that the painting on the coffin resembles the dead body inside.
10 - Tell all the relatives the body is complete and is ready for burial. Get your Chief Priest to accompany the funeral procession to the tomb so that he can conduct the ceremony to open the mummy's mouth. The persons soul needs to talk in the afterlife.
(source)
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
My arm is soooo sore now. But I am glad I wrote this down, you never now when it may come in handy! And it also distracted me from my extreme thirst, I wish that the drought would be over soon.
Asenath