Day Of An Egyptian Priest
By Cassie, Alice and rachy
Itenary of a priests day
Egyptian priests get up at dawn and wait for the assistant high priest to give them instructions for the morning
When the sun rises the priests chant.” The most senior priest unseals the sanctuary and says a ritual prayer four times over the image of the god. This gives the god his soul, so that he can take his physical earthly shape again.
The image is then carefully cleaned and rubbed with oil. Incense is burned as its old clothes are removed and the image is re-dressed in white, red, blue and green linen. The dressing is completed with perfume, make-up and jewels.
0Now that the god is dressed it’s time for his breakfast. This is a meal of bread, roast meat, fruit and vegetables. Beer and wine are also laid out. Once the priests think the god has eaten all he can handle, the food is removed. It goes back to the kitchens, where a middle ranked priest distributes it to the temple staff as part of their wages.
Water is now sprinkled over the sanctuary and the image. The priests wave around more incense and put natron cleansing salt and resin on the floor. They then leave, sealing the sanctuary ahead of the pharaoh’s daily visit.
Now priests practice their chanting while waiting for the pharaoh. Once the visit is in progress, a priest takes the bull and leads it into the sanctuary. Here, it will be presented to the pharaoh before being ritually slaughtered as a sacrifice to the god to arrive.
Once the pharaoh has left the priests sit down to lunch of soups and bread. After that they lie down to have an afternoon nap.
After the afternoon nap the priests run and dictate funerals for important businessmen.
After the funerals the priest sit down to dinner than bade their farewells and head home to their families.