DAILY ROUTINE
The lifestyle and occupation of the Ancient Egyptian priest were, as mentioned in the introduction, significantly different from the lifestyle of the priests today. Ancient Egyptian priests had a routine which they would follow every single day unless it was a religious celebration, in which something additional would take place during the day. This presentation will be about the priest Aharon, who is a work of fiction created by me. The god Aharon cares for is Amun, the King of the Gods. The name Aharon is a variation of the religious name Aaron.
MORNING
The Ancient Egyptian priest starts his day identical to any other. He gets up, dressed and ready way before the sun even starts to glimmer faintly on the horizon. He does this because he must be prepared to sing the morning hymn when the sun does appear, 'Awaken in Peace, Great God', which as the name suggests, is to awaken their sacred god.
Aharon follows this routine, and then once his great god is awake, the temple staff serve Amun’s magnificent breakfast/ritual offerings. Aharon and his fellow priests receive the leftovers from their god’s feast. The leftovers from the priests go to the temple staff as part of their payment method. The god has three meals a day, but the food is identical to every other.
After the priests finish their breakfast, they enter a sanctuary where the high-priest is. Whilst the priests ate their breakfast, the high-priest was performing a sacred ritual around a statue of the god Amun. This ritual could only be done by a high-priest or their assistant if they were away for some reason (e.g. someone important has died). The high-priest welcomes the middle-class priests like Aharon into the sanctuary when he has finished the sacred task, and the priests either light incense and candles or clean their surroundings. Doing these things keep the god content. When they have all finished they say a final prayer and exit and seal the sanctuary until the next day. Some days, the Pharaoh will visit and the priests will sacrifice an animal in front of him.
MIDDAY/AFTERNOON/EVENING
The priests have completed their morning routine, so now it is time to start the afternoon one. At midday the priests have lunch, which consists of the same food as breakfast. Then the priests are allowed some free-time to rest or enjoy leisure activities.Â
Once Aharon and the others finish their leisure time, they are straight back to work, as there is more to do to keep Amun content. Only on some occasions when a nobleman or anyone high up in the social hierarchy has passed away, priests would officiate at the funeral and the funeral march in the afternoon. If the person was an extremely important figure head they would be buried in the Valley of the Kings. Most of the people buried here were pharaohs. When Evening falls the priests are to perform their final ritual of the day and then to eat dinner quickly, and go straight to bed so they are prepared for the next day.