Egyptian processions were performed, and acquired meaning, in a religious context. Funeral processions, for example, symbolized the deceased’s transition into the hereafter. The most important processions, however, were the processions of deities that took place during the major feasts, especially those feasts that recurred annually. The deity left his or her sanctuary on these occasions and thus provided the only opportunities for a wider public to have more or less immediate contact with the deity’s image, although in most cases it still remained hidden within a shrine. These processions often involved the journey of the principal deity of the town to visit other gods, not uncommonly “deceased” ancestor gods who were buried within the temple’s vicinity. The “wedding” of a god and his divine consort provided yet another occasion for a feast for which processions were performed.

In Egyptian funerary practices, trials composed a crucial phase through which the deceased had to pass in order to become “justified”—that is, worthy of entering the hereafter. The trials featured in Book of the Dead spells 18 and 20 are representative, the most popular pictorial representation of the judgment after death being the vignette of BD spell 125, the spell proper of which provides a text that summarizes Egyptian ethical standards. There is reason to consider that the text may stem from priestly initiation oaths.