APRIL 29th is International Dance Day so let us muse on the mysterious MUU and that high-stepping dance that they do.
The MUU were professional male dancers who showed up at funerals to cavort and frolic amongst the bereaved whilst wearing tall conical headdresses constructed of papyrus stalks.
Were they comic relief? Were they personifications of afterlife spirits?
The best analysis of the mysterious MUU dancers comes from Gregory Reeder, who writes:
"One gets the feeling that the muu ... based on their surviving representations ... were likable characters in the ancient Egyptian funerary drama.Their high-stepping 'dance' and accompanying gestures evoke a smile in the present-day viewer. Clearly they were characters patterned after the common folk on the Nile Delta, people who lived along and worked on the canals of the north, surrounded by lush flora and diverse fauna. Marsh life and people were favorite themes of tomb decoration of the pharaonic period, and their treatment by the tomb artisans often show an affection and humorous sympathy. Who better to call upon to lead one through the winding waterways of Paradise than the boatmen of the Nile Delta?"
Read Gregory Reeder's full article HERE.
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