In magic and religion, breaking things can be done deliberately. Sometimes it's part of a curse, sometimes as an offering or sacrifice, sometimes to show its purpose has ended. An exhibition currently on at London's Petrie Museum is called Broken, Burnt, Buried: Ritual Lives of Objects in Ancient Egypt. It looks at various ritual reasons behind this.
The museum website explains:
"Across ancient Egypt, people broke, buried, and even burned objects - not by accident, but deliberately and with deep meaning. Broken, Burnt, Buried explores how everyday items were transformed through religious and ritual practices across thousands of years.
"The broken pots, figurines or amulets on display offer a rare glimpse into the lives and beliefs of ancient Egyptians. Through the deliberate act of damage these objects became powerful tools that ordinary people used to protect, to heal, and even communicate with the divine."
I went there and took these photos. The one at the top shows figurines sometimes interpreted as fertility votives. However, the description at the Petrie explains they had a wider use in protection and healing rituals. Apparently, some texts show they helped cure other illnesses, and that after medical procedures the figurines may have been broken to stop the illness recurring.
Ancient Egyptians placed pottery, including those broken shards in the photo above, underneath temples, tombs, palaces and city walls. These were offerings and were intended to strengthen the structure.
Scorpions were a serious hazard, so magical rituals to catch them involved smashing a clay model while saying words instructing the creatures to "break out" so they could be trapped. This nearly intact one is a rare survivor, as most were obviously broken during the rite.
Broken, Burnt, Buried is on at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian and Sudanese Archaeology, Malet Place, London WC1E 6BT until 16 May. It's open Tuesdays to Fridays 1-5pm and Saturdays 11am-5pm. Entry is free. Find out more here: www.ucl.ac.uk
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https://www.badwitch.co.uk/2020/05/book-excerpt-pagan-portals-isis-great.html
https://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/11/event-ancient-egyptian-curses-at-petrie.html
https://www.badwitch.co.uk/2022/10/pagan-eye-thoth-god-of-writing-at-bm.html
https://www.badwitch.co.uk/2017/05/mogg-morgan-apophis-mother-of-all-curses.html
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