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The ancient Egyptians believed that if
their heart
was light from spending a lifetime doing good deed
that, after their death, they would climb in Ra's boat and travel to
their afterlife. To the ancient Egyptians, the
afterlife was a real place, the land of Two Fields, a
truly splendid place!
In preparation for their trip to the
land of Two Fields, before they died, and throughout their lifetime,
people spent a great deal of their leisure time making grave goods.
Grave goods were all the things they wanted to bring with them to the
land of the Two Fields.
People in ancient Egypt fully expected to
be assigned jobs to do in their afterlife, just as they were assigned
jobs to do in their daily life. So nearly everybody made little statues
of people as
part of their grave goods.
To the ancient Egyptians, it made
perfect sense to create little statues that would do the work for
them. It was believed that when the deceased was called on to do their
share of the work in the afterlife, they could send their little
workers instead. That would leave them free to sail the heavenly Nile
or visit with friends who had entered the afterlife.
They made toys. They made beautiful
clothing. They made jewelry. They made everything they would need in
the land of the Two Fields. And they made most of it in little
tiny sizes. It is assumed that the ancient Egyptians believed these
articles would grow to whatever size was needed when they reached the
end of their trip.
Once made, grave goods were packed
carefully away in big urns. After they died, these urns, full of the grave goods they had
spent a lifetime preparing, were buried in their tomb, along with their
mummified
body, rather
like luggage.
The ancient Egyptians had a great deal
of fun preparing for their afterlife.

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