Mummies/mummificatie

I'm going to tell you something about mummies. Mummies are corpses from people or animals that have been very good preserved. Every dead body, who still has the skin, is a mummy. The word 'mummy' comes from 'Moemmiya', the Arabic word for asphalt. Arabs saw the dark resin, which the mummy was covered with, as asphalt. Mummification can be caused by chance or on purpose. The first mummies who were caused by chance have been found in 3200 before Christ. These mummies were caused by nature, in places with an extreme climate. They were for example preserved in the dry desert-sand, in which they were burried, or the icy wind from the Poles froze them. Later on, when the people discovered how the bodies from the natural mummies were preserved, they wanted to make mummies themselves. Mainly the Egyptians were specialised in mummification. Easy on, the mummification got an important place in the Egyptian religion. Mummification was a very long-lasting process. It cost the Egyptians at least 70 days to make a mummy. First they removed the bowels, like the stomach and the liver, from the body. That happened by way of a hole at the left side of the body, just above the hips. This hole was called an 'incision' and got later covered with a 'Wedja-eye'. The 'Wedja-eye' was a symbol of healing and was meant to give the mummy new vital strength. The brains got removed with a hook. They put a hook in the nose to make a little hole in the skull, so they could remove the brain by the nose. After this, the most important organs got spread over 4 jars, called 'Canopen'; One for the liver, one for the large and small intestine, one for the lungs and one for the stomach. Later, the 'Canopen' were placed in the mummycoffin. Then, they were going to wash the body with palmwine and spices. After that, the body got covered with Natron, a salt that made the body flexible and lively. When this was finished, they poured melted resin all over the body, so that the body could be kept for a very long time. At last, the Egyptians filled the body with sand or sawdust and wound the body in linen bandages. The mummy was ready to be put in his coffin now. An old-Egyptian mummycoffin has the shape of a human body. On top of the coffin, the Egyptians put a very beautiful painted mask that served as a protection for the mummie's face. It also made the mummy look pretty for the Gods. The rest of the mummycoffin served as a replacing body and as a home for the mummy's spirit. At the coffin were a lot of signs, like prayers for gods and plans from the underworld. These served as an extra help for the mummy to get to the hereafter without problems. The language that was used for these signs was called hieroglyphic. Now, people don't make mummies on the old-egyptian way anymore, because it costs too much and it is forbidden for ordinary people in most countries. Only the royal family is able to preserve their bodies by mummification. The body of Vladimir Lenin for example has been preserved by means of embalming. Ordinary people still try to find ways to prepare bodies in legal and cheaper ways. A popular way to make a mummy in this century is to freeze the body. However, mummification remains very expensive. ~Spreekbeurt Engels~ I'm going to tell you something about mummies. Mummies are corpses from people or animals that have been very good preserved. Every dead body, who still has the skin, is a mummy. The word 'mummy' comes from 'Moemmiya', the Arabic word for asphalt. Arabs saw the dark resin, which the mummy was covered with, as asphalt. Mummification can be caused by chance or on purpose. The first mummies who were caused by chance have been found in 3200 before Christ. These mummies were caused by nature, in places with an extreme climate. They were for example preserved in the dry desert-sand, in which they were burried, or the icy wind from the Poles froze them. Later on, when the people discovered how the bodies from the natural mummies were preserved, they wanted to make mummies themselves. Mainly the Egyptians were specialised in mummification. Easy on, the mummification got an important place in the Egyptian religion. Mummification was a very long-lasting process. It cost the Egyptians at least 70 days to make a mummy. First they removed the bowels, like the stomach and the liver, from the body. That happened by way of a hole at the left side of the body, just above the hips. This hole was called an 'incision' and got later covered with a 'Wedja-eye'. The 'Wedja-eye' was a symbol of healing and was meant to give the mummy new vital strength. The brains got removed with a hook. They put a hook in the nose to make a little hole in the skull, so they could remove the brain by the nose. After this, the most important organs got spread over 4 jars, called 'Canopen'; One for the liver, one for the large and small intestine, one for the lungs and one for the stomach. Later, the 'Canopen' were placed in the mummycoffin. Then, they were going to wash the body with palmwine and spices. After that, the body got covered with Natron, a salt that made the body flexible and lively. When this was finished, they poured melted resin all over the body, so that the body could be kept for a very long time. At last, the Egyptians filled the body with sand or sawdust and wound the body in linen bandages. The mummy was ready to be put in his coffin now. An old-Egyptian mummycoffin has the shape of a human body. On top of the coffin, the Egyptians put a very beautiful painted mask that served as a protection for the mummie's face. It also made the mummy look pretty for the Gods. The rest of the mummycoffin served as a replacing body and as a home for the mummy's spirit. At the coffin were a lot of signs, like prayers for gods and plans from the underworld. These served as an extra help for the mummy to get to the hereafter without problems. The language that was used for these signs was called hieroglyphic. Now, people don't make mummies on the old-egyptian way anymore, because it costs too much and it is forbidden for ordinary people in most countries. Only the royal family is able to preserve their bodies by mummification. The body of Vladimir Lenin for example has been preserved by means of embalming. Ordinary people still try to find ways to prepare bodies in legal and cheaper ways. A popular way to make a mummy in this century is to freeze the body. However, mummification remains very expensive.