380:, Cardiganshire. Abhorred by the superstitious villagers as a thing unclean, the sin-eater cut himself off from all social intercourse with his fellow creatures by reason of the life he had chosen; he lived as a rule in a remote place by himself, and those who chanced to meet him avoided him as they would a leper. This unfortunate was held to be the associate of evil spirits, and given to witchcraft, incantations and unholy practices; only when a death took place did they seek him out, and when his purpose was accomplished they burned the wooden bowl and platter from which he had eaten the food handed across, or placed on the corpse for his consumption.
614:, Gerri, Waystar Royco's general counsel, suggests to Tom Wambsgans that he become the family sin-eater and destroy evidence of illegal activities aboard the company's cruise lines, "Have you ever heard of the sin cake eater? He would come to the funeral and he would eat all the little cakes they’d lay out on the corpse. He ate up all the sins. And you know what? The sin cake eater was very well paid. And so long as there was another one who came along after he died, it all worked out. So this might not be the best situation, but there are harder jobs and you get to eat of cake."
495:, Abby Geni comments, "The story orbits around the Captain, a failing patriarch, and the family who have gathered at his bedside. There are no ghosts or disembodied voices here. Instead, lovely Rose organises meals and cricket matches. Angela, visiting from out of town, vies with Rose for control of the proceedings. Awkward Ermyn searches for her place in the group. Servants lurk on the sidelines. The story is ripe with shadows and terror. An unclassifiable menace seeps through the book like a fog."
648:, sin-eaters are recurring hostile entities that aim to devour all living beings in The First, mindless monsters driven by insatiable hunger for living aether. The stronger sin-eaters are capable of "forgiving" the creatures they attack, gruesomely and permanently mutating them into newborn sin-eaters. Most of these creatures tend to be named as "forgiven" sins (Forgiven Cowardice, Forgiven Cruelty, Forgiven Hypocrisy, etc.). The strongest sin-eaters are known as Lightwardens.
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290:-high way. (He was a long, lean, ugly, lamentable Raskel.) The manner was that when the corpse was brought out of the house, and laid on the Bière; a Loaf of bread was brought out, and delivered to the Sine-eater over the corpse, and also a Mazar-bowl of maple (Gossips bowl) full of beer, which he was to drink up, and sixpence in money, in consideration whereof he took upon him (
360:, "It was a very odd practice and would not have been approved of by the church but I suspect the vicar often turned a blind eye to the practice." At the funeral of anyone who had died without confessing their sins, a sin-eater would take on the sins of the deceased by eating a loaf of bread and drinking ale out of a wooden bowl passed over the coffin, and make a short speech:
208:, the Aztec goddess of vice, purification, steam baths, lust and filth, and a patroness of adulterers (her name literally means 'Sacred Filth'), had a redemptive role in religious practices. At the end of an individual's life, they were allowed to confess misdeeds to this deity, and according to legend she would cleanse the soul by "eating its filth".
352:, England, concerns the grave of Richard Munslow, who died in 1906, said to be the last sin-eater of the area. Unusually, Munslow was not poor or an outcast, instead being a wealthy farmer from an established family. Munslow may have revived the custom after the deaths of three of his children in a week 1870 due to
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and other
Western counties until recently. Many funerals were attended by a professed "sin-eater," hired to take upon him the sins of the deceased. By swallowing bread and beer, with a suitable ceremony before the corpse, he was supposed to free it from every penalty for past offences, appropriating
720:
a poor construction worker stumbles upon an ancient ritual that allows him to take on the sins of others in exchange for a small fee. Desperate for money, he becomes a modern-day sin eater, unaware of the dark consequences that follow. As the weight of the sins begins to take a physical and mental
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Notice was given to an old sire before the door of the house, when some of the family came out and furnished him with a cricket , on which he sat down facing the door; then they gave him a groat which he put in his pocket, a crust of bread which he ate, and a bowl of ale which he drank off at a
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It is this fear of what the dead in their uncontrollable power might cause which has brought forth apotropaic rites, protective rites against the dead. One of these popular rites was the funeral rite of sin-eating, performed by a sin-eater, a man or woman. Through accepting the food and drink
192:
While there have been analogous instances of sin-eaters throughout history, the questions of how common the practice was, when it was practiced, and what the interactions between sin-eaters, common people, and religious authorities remain largely unstudied by
545:, set aboard a 19th-century British navy ship, the crew learns that a new shipmate was once a sin-eater, and immediately begin to shun and persecute him. To protect him, the ship's doctor, Stephen Maturin, gives him a post as his assistant.
246:', marked with the initials of the deceased, introduced into America in the 17th century, were long given to the attendants at funerals in old New York. The 'burial-cakes' which are still made in parts of rural England, for example
581:(2012), a central character who leads a US government black ops program describes himself and his team as sin-eaters, doing the "morally indefensible" but absolutely necessary thing, "so that the rest of our cause can stay pure."
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season 5, episode 3, a flashback portrays a possible sixteenth century incarnation of the character Ole Munch as being a sin-eater, definitively confirmed by his further declarations in the finale, episode 10, entitled
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230:. After a preliminary service had been held over the coffin in the house, a woman poured out a glass of wine for each bearer and handed it to him across the coffin with a '
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is a fictional horror story revolving around the investigation of the suspicious death of an excommunicated priest and the discovery of a sin-eater headquartered in Rome.
599:
used the term Sin-Eater as the title of season 2, episode 3, to refer to the content moderation employees of a fictional social media company. The
American TV show
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tells the story of a community of Welsh immigrants in
Appalachia, 1850. The sin-eater of the community is seen through the eyes of ten-year-old Cadi Forbes.
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is set in a world where memories are recorded, and then "cut" into positive hagiographies on the person's death; the "cutters" are referred to as sin-eaters.
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489:'s many novels. It "exposed the hidden rancours of Irish, Welsh and English," in the words of journalist and writer Clare Colvin. Writing for the
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toll on him, he uncovers a deeper, supernatural force at play, threatening to consume him entirely unless he can find a way to break the curse.
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I give easement and rest now to thee, dear man, that ye walk not down the lanes or in our meadows. And for thy peace I pawn my own soul. Amen.
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at funerals to hire poor people, who were to take upon them all the sins of the party deceased. One of them I remember lived in a
Cottage on
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dines upon a symbolic meal, which includes a coin pressed into a cheese, thereby taking the deceased's transgressions in life upon himself.
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draught. After this he got up from the cricket and pronounced the case and rest of the soul departed, for which he would pawn his own soul.
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did so too in the season 5, episode 14, referring to a flash-back story of
Anatoli Knyazev telling Oliver Queen he acts as a sin-eater.
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used the term Sin-Eater as the title of Season 1, episode 6, as a way to introduce another character on the show that is a sin-eater.
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is a YA fantasy novel written by
Melinda Salisbury which includes a version of the practice and was published on February 24, 2015.
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668:, Roger Wakefield presides over the funeral of Hiram Crombie's mother-in-law, Mrs. Wilson, where a sin-eater makes an appearance.
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sin-eating still survives: a corpse cake is placed on the breast of the dead and then eaten by the nearest relative, while in the
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Professor Evans of the
Presbyterian College, Carmarthen, allegedly saw a sin-eater about the year 1825, who was then living near
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features a main character who is a sin-eater, and thus despised by his mother's culture as the lowest member of their society.
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the punishment to himself. Men who undertook so daring an imposture must all have been infidels, willing, apparently, like
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features a funeral scene wherein all the mourners in attendance avert their faces as a repudiated fellow designated the
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a small bread image of the deceased is made and eaten by the survivors of the family. The Dutch doed-koecks or '
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which originally aired on July 8, 1962. The setting is rural
Appalachia, with characters of Welsh heritage.
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1128:(Horror, Thriller), Carter Shimp, Elizabeth Laidlaw, Marcelo Wright, Feared Features, The Line Film Company
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is the title of a 2020 mystery novel by Megan
Campisi set in an alternate Elizabethan England.
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799:. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 146–147.
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464:"The Sins of the Fathers", a 1972 episode of the American television series
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HBO. (2018, June 24). "Sad Sack Wasp Trap". Succession. New York, New York.
709:"SIN-EATER", a 2023 work for choir and string quartet by American composer
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Wonders : New stories by twelve distinguished Canadian authors
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noted the practice was in decline but that it continued in the locality:
278:, in the earliest source on the practice, wrote that "an old Custome" in
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419: in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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914:"Chapter IV: Wakes, Mutes, Wailers, Sin-Eating, Totemism, Death-Taxes"
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wrote a short story titled "The Sin-Eater". It was dramatised by the
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1164:"Sins of the Father", Night Gallery episode based on sin-eating
1047:. Toronto: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. pp. 11–23.
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from the "Mysteries For Rats" music album published in 2023.
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A symbolic survival of was witnessed as recently as 1893 at
1010:"The Sin Eater: Alice Thomas Ellis and the Gothic Tradition"
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1169:"Sin Eater", Website of a traditional New Orleans Sin Eater
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and is most often associated with Wales itself and in the
1094:"Review: In Sleek Bourne Legacy, Superspy Needs His Meds"
956:. Edinburgh, Scotland: Patrick Geddes & Colleagues.
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provided, he took upon himself the sins of the departed.
883:"Last 'sin-eater' to be celebrated with church service"
145:is a person who consumes a ritual meal in order to
67:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
356:. In the words of local Reverend Norman Morris of
27:Person who consumes a ritual meal for the deceased
344:, to sell their birthright for a mess of pottage.
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372:by Bertram S. Puckle mentions the sin-eater:
254:, are almost certainly a relic of sin-eating.
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263:The term "Sin-eater" appears to derive from
435:Learn how and when to remove this message
127:Learn how and when to remove this message
1159:The Weird but True History of Sin Eaters
1154:by Bertram S. Puckle at Sacred-Texts.com
833:. Edinburgh: Robert Carter. p. 336.
450:, writing as Fiona Macleod, published a
813:The Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme
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316:Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
685:, is about the dread of a sin-eater.
335:A strange popish custom prevailed in
218:states in its article on sin-eaters:
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1020:from the original on 31 October 2020
989:from the original on 15 January 2021
928:from the original on 18 January 2021
417:adding citations to reliable sources
65:adding citations to reliable sources
1122:Denton, Justin (6 September 2024),
761:from the original on 28 March 2022
474:as a sin-eater in medieval Wales.
454:entitled "The Sin Eater" in 1895.
25:
1199:Traditional religious occupations
854:Shropshire Churches Tourism Group
645:Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers
526:Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
457:"The Sin Eater" is an episode of
171:classify sin-eating as a form of
1069:"The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi"
893:from the original on 19 May 2015
860:from the original on 31 May 2014
485:was the first of British writer
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269:English counties bordering Wales
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975:Colvin, Clare (10 March 2005).
501:The Dark Secret of Harvest Home
404:needs additional citations for
52:needs additional citations for
977:"Obituary: Alice Thomas Ellis"
816:. London: W. Satchell, Peyton.
718:Curse of the Sin Eater (2024),
679:"My Soul’s Demise", a song by
312:Letter on Leland's Collectanea
259:In Wales and the Welsh Marches
1:
953:The Sin-Eater And Other Tales
936:– via Sacred texts.com.
747:. Thimble Press. p. 85.
688:In the American TV anthology
304:
827:Sinclair, Catherine (1838).
274:Seventeenth-century diarist
1014:Los Angeles Review of Books
1008:Geni, Abby (9 April 2016).
912:Puckle, Bertram S. (1926).
810:Aubrey, John (1686–1687) .
744:Boundaries & Thresholds
541:In Patrick O’Brian's novel
492:Los Angeles Review of Books
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654:A Breath of Snow and Ashes
32:Sin-eater (disambiguation)
29:
1039:Atwood, Margaret (1982).
1189:Religious food and drink
850:"Ratlinghope Churchyard"
673:The Sin Eater's Daughter
657:, the sixth book in the
608:In the American TV show
165:Cultural anthropologists
796:Encyclopædia Britannica
702:"Sin Eater", a song by
498:The 1978 TV miniseries
215:Encyclopædia Britannica
1194:Funeral food and drink
1125:Curse of the Sin Eater
528:in their radio series
459:Suspense (radio drama)
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889:. 19 September 2010.
739:Davidson, Hilda Ellis
627:Geist: The Sin-Eaters
621:publishing company's
593:The American TV show
584:The American TV show
477:Published in 1977 by
1073:www.panmacmillan.com
543:Master and Commander
413:improve this article
61:improve this article
30:For other uses, see
569:The Last Sin Eater
487:Alice Thomas Ellis
385:In popular culture
348:A local legend in
329:Catherine Sinclair
790:"Sin-eater"
633:The comic series
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191:
183:Attestations
163:
149:take on the
142:
140:
138:
123:
117:October 2023
114:
104:
97:
90:
83:
71:
59:Please help
54:verification
51:
470:, features
358:Ratlinghope
276:John Aubrey
206:Tlazolteotl
197:academics.
169:folklorists
147:spiritually
76:"Sin-eater"
1178:Categories
1078:9 February
1054:0887941044
725:References
682:Blackbriar
619:White Wolf
611:Succession
452:weird tale
350:Shropshire
293:ipso facto
252:Cumberland
244:dead-cakes
228:Shropshire
87:newspapers
18:Sin-eating
962:14042178M
660:Outlander
551:The Order
536:Sin Eater
532:in 1981.
530:Anthology
518:villain.
512:Sin-Eater
506:sin-eater
425:June 2021
378:Llanwenog
327:By 1838,
282:had been
155:absolving
143:sin-eater
1184:Folklore
1024:3 August
1018:Archived
993:3 August
987:Archived
926:Archived
891:Archived
887:BBC News
864:28 March
858:Archived
765:28 March
759:Archived
741:(1993).
318:, 1898)
195:folklore
1043:(ed.).
856:. n.d.
697:Bisquik
596:Lucifer
188:History
101:scholar
1051:
960:
751:
662:series
636:Finder
234:.' In
173:ritual
103:
96:
89:
82:
74:
1204:Souls
1099:Wired
924:Ltd.
691:Fargo
602:Arrow
288:Rosse
213:1911
108:JSTOR
94:books
1134:2024
1080:2024
1049:ISBN
1026:2020
995:2020
934:2020
899:2010
866:2022
767:2022
749:ISBN
617:The
342:Esau
250:and
211:The
167:and
159:soul
157:the
151:sins
80:news
1214:Sin
716:In
699:".
651:In
415:by
200:In
63:by
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305:c.
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