ocr: The Opening of the Mouth The Opening of the Mouth ceremony was held just before a pharaoh's mummy was placed in the tomb. Women were hired to wail and grieve while priests performed the ceremony. The new pharaoh (the old pharaoh's son) often served as a priest in the ritual. The Opening of the Mouth ceremony was symbolic. The priests did not really open the mummy's mouth. Instead, they prayed and made ritual motions. The priests touched the mummy's lips with special tools. The Egyptians See Also: believed that this ceremony freed the The Funerary Complex body's soul and helped the dead pharaoh ...