Giger's Facehugger inspired by the opening of the mouth ritual

Leading from:
H.R Giger's Egyptian Mysteries
and
Giger's early facehugger concept

work 364, (Giger's Alien, p11)

1. H.R.Giger "Since it had to pry open the victim's mouth, I gave it an instrument something like the old Egyptians used on their dead to force open the mouth and let the spirit out" (Cinefex 1, p36)

   

   Opening of the mouth ritual

2.  "At the entrance to the tomb, the mummy was raised to an upright position, the Sem-Priest would then speak the words of ritual while lesser-ranked priests would purify the coffin with water and incense. At this point a 'adze' was raised to the lips of the face of the coffin / mummy - the adze was raised in this way twice, then a forked instrument (a Pesesh-Kef) a knife or wand touched the mummy - this was very important! - Now the senses of the mummy were magically restored - an ox was then slaughtered and one its forelegs offered to the face of the mummy (with the possible reason of restoring the sexual powers of the deceased)." (Taken from www.ilikeegypt.com)

   

   a Pesesh-kef

3. "The Peseshkef, a prehistoric flint knife in the shape of a fish tail, was used in Egypt to cut the umbilical cord at birth, circa 5000 BC. This was the first special-purpose surgical instrument.
   
   Because of the importance of rebirth in the Egyptian religion, a stylized knife with magical properties became part of the equipment for the "opening of the mouth" ceremony to permit a mummy to partake of nourishment in the afterlife. It also became the emblem of the birth goddess, Meskhenet." (source http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8190422)