"A very typical class of grave furniture", writes Mr. King, "consisted
of palettes, or colour dishes, made of alabaster, often of graceful
shape, and sometimes standing on four feet.... There is no doubt as to
their use, for colour still remains in many of them, generally black
and yellow, but sometimes a light rose and light green." Palettes for
face paint have also been found in many early Egyptian graves.
The gods had their faces painted like the living and the dead and were
similarly adorned with charms. In the course of the daily service in
the Egyptian temples an important ceremony was "dressing the god with
white, green, bright-red, and dark-red sashes, and supplying two kinds
of ointment and black and green eye paint".[254] In the word-picture
of the Aryo-Indian Varuna's heaven in the _Mahabharata_ the deity is
depicted "attired in celestial robes and decked with celestial
ornaments and jewels". His attendants, the Adityas, appear "adorned
with celestial garlands and perfumed with celestial scents and
besmeared with paste of celestial fragrance".[255] Apparently the
"paste", like the face paint of the Babylonians and Egyptians, had
protective qualities. The Picts of Scotland may have similarly painted
themselves to charm their bodies against magical influences and the
weapons of their enemies. A painted man was probably regarded as one
who was likely to have good luck, being guarded against bad luck.
Weapons and implements were also laid in the Sumerian graves,
indicating a belief that the spirits of the dead could not only
protect themselves against their enemies but also provide themselves
with food. The funerary gifts of fish-hooks suggests that spirits were
expected to catch fish and thus obtain clean food, instead of
returning to disturb the living as they searched for the remnants of
the feast, like the Scottish Gunna,
perched alone
On a chilly old grey stone,
Nibbling, nibbling at a bone
That we'll maybe throw away.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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