Thousands of years ago, there was an ancient civilization known as the Egyptians. When someone died, they would bury or mummify their body. Did they do that to serve a god or was it just a ritual? Why exactly did they do that?

The Egyptians believed that when a person died, their ba was released from their body. A ba is someone’s "soul" or "spirit." The ba would fly to the living family and friends of the mummy. On these journeys, the ba gives the family and friends information on how the mummy is doing.

The appearance of bau (plural of ba) are quite strange because bau are represented as birds with human heads and a falcon’s body.

The Egyptians also believed that when a person died their ka was released from their body. A ka is a spiritual twin of the dead person. It travels back and forth, to and from the mummy to the Afterlife.

The ka looks just like the mummy except for one thing, the ka has shoulders and two arms on top of its head. The two arms are raised upward. This is the symbol of the ka. This symbol is similar to the "touchdown" gesture in American football.

The ba roams around in the underworld with the gods and goddesses of the dead and listens to their conversation in the Afterlife. The underworld has many dangers. If the ba survives the underworld, it will reunite with the ka and together will form an akh. An akh is a mummy who has made the transition to the Afterlife successfully.

The Egyptians buried mummies with masks on their face that looked just like them. They did this to help the ba, the ka, and the mummy’s chance of getting to the Afterlife successfully. If the ba and the ka do not recognize the mummy they belong to, they cannot return to it and the mummy’s chance of getting to the Afterlife successfully is lost. If the mask is on the mummy and something happens to the mummy, the ba and ka will still be able to recognize the mummy because of the mask.

The Egyptians also buried a statue of the mummy with the mummy. If anything happens to the mask, the ba and the ka will be able to recognize the mummy that they belong to. If the mask breaks and the mummy rots, the ba and ka will be able to return to the statue believing the statue is the mummy.