Sin-eater (pronounced sin-ee-ter or sin-ee-tah)
(1) An
individual (in the historic texts usually a man) who, by the act of eating a
piece of bread laid upon the breast of the corpse (although in many depictions the goods are place on the lid of the coffin (casket)) , absorbs the sins of a
deceased, enabling them to “enter the
kingdom of heaven”.
(2) Figuratively,
as a thematic device in literature, a way to represent themes of guilt,
atonement, sacrifice, and societal exclusion (used variously to explore the moral
complexities inherent in assuming the sins (or guilt) of another, the act of
mercy and the implications of personal damnation.
Late 1600s (although the culture practice long pre-dates evidence of the first use of the term): The construct was sin + eat +-er. Sin (in the theological sense of “a violation of divine will or religious law; sinfulness, depravity, iniquity; misdeeds”) was from the Middle English sinne, synne, sunne & zen, from the Old English synn (sin), from the Proto-West Germanic sunnju, from the Proto-Germanic sunjō (truth, excuse) and sundī, & sundijō (sin), from the primitive Indo-European hs-ónt-ih, from hsónts (being, true), implying a verdict of “truly guilty” against an accusation or charge), from hes- (to be) (which may be compared with the Old English sōþ (true). Eat (in the sense of “to ingest; to be ingested”) was from the Middle English eten, from the Old English etan (to eat), from the Proto-West Germanic etan, from the Proto-Germanic etaną (to eat), from the primitive Indo-European hédti, from hed- (to eat). The –er suffix was from the Middle English –er & -ere, from the Old English -ere, from the Proto-Germanic -ārijaz, thought most likely to have been borrowed from the Latin –ārius where, as a suffix, it was used to form adjectives from nouns or numerals. In English, the –er suffix, when added to a verb, created an agent noun: the person or thing that doing the action indicated by the root verb. The use in English was reinforced by the synonymous but unrelated Old French –or & -eor (the Anglo-Norman variant -our), from the Latin -ātor & -tor, from the primitive Indo-European -tōr. When appended to a noun, it created the noun denoting an occupation or describing the person whose occupation is the noun. Sin-eater is a noun and sin-eating is a verb; the noun plural is sin eaters. The term often appears as “sin eater” but (untypically for English), seemingly not as “sineater”.
The first documented evidence of the term “sin-eater” appears in texts dating from the late seventeenth century but cultural anthropologists believe the actual practice to be ancient and variations of the idea are seen in many societies so the ritual predates the term, the roots apparently in European and British folk traditions, particularly rural England and Wales. The earliest (authenticated) known documented mention of a sin-eater occurs Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme (1686) by English antiquary John Aubrey (1626–1697), in which is described the custom of a person eating “bread and drinking ale” placed on the chest of a deceased person in order that their “many sins” could be eaten, thus allowing the untainted soul to pass to the afterlife, cleansed of “earthly wrongdoings”. Aubrey would write of a "sin-eater living along the Rosse road" who regularly would be hired to perform the service, describing him as a “gaunt, ghastly, lean, miserable, poor rascal”. He mentioned also there was a popular belief that sin-eating would prevent the ghost of the deceased from walking the earth, a useful benefit at a time when it was understood ghosts of tormented souls, unable to find rest, haunted the living. Whether this aspect of the tradition was widespread or a localism (a noted phenomenon in folklore) isn't know. Interestingly, in rural England and Wales the practice survived the Enlightenment and became more common (or at least better documented) in the eighteenth & nineteenth centuries. In the turbulent, troubled Middle East, a macabre variation of the sin-eater has been documented. There, it's reported that a prisoner sentenced to death can bribe the jailors and secure their freedom, another executed in their place, the paperwork appropriately altered.
Paris Hilton (b 1981, left) and Lindsay Lohan (b 1986, right) discussing their “manifold sins and wickedness” while shopping, Los Angeles, 2004.
The ritual
was of interest not only to social anthropologists but also to economic
historians because while it was clear sin-eaters did receive payment (either in
cash or in-kind (typically food)), there’s much to suggest those so employed
were society’s “outcasts”, part of the “underclass” sub-set (beggars, vagrants,
vagabonds etc) which is the West was a less formalized thing than something
like the Dalits in Hinduism. The Dalits
(better known as the “untouchables”) in the West are often regarded as the “lowest
rung” in the caste system but in Hindu theology the point was they were so excluded
they were “outside” the system (a tiresome technical distinction often either lost on or ignored by the colonial administrators of the Raj) and relegated to the least desirable
occupations. Being a sin-eater sounds
not desirable and theologically that’s right because in absolving the dead of
their sins, the sin-eater becomes eternally burdened with the wickedness
absorbed. Presumably, a sin-eater could
also (eventually) have their sins “eaten” but because they were from the
impoverished strata of society, it was probably unlikely many would be
connected to those with the economic resources required to secure such a
service. As a literary device, a sin-eater
(often not explicitly named as such) is a character who in some way “takes on”
the sins of others and they can be used to represent themes of guilt,
atonement, sacrifice, and societal exclusion.
In popular culture, the dark concept is quite popular and there, rather
than in symbolism, the role usually is explored with the character being explicating
depicted as a “sin-eater”, an example being The
Sin Eater (2020) by Megan Campisi (b 1976), a dystopian novel in which a young
woman is forced into the role as a punishment.
There’s the obvious connection
with Christianity although aspects of the practice have been identified in
cultures where they arose prior to contact with the West. The novel The
Last Sin Eater by born-again US author Francine Rivers (b 1947) was set in
a nineteenth century Appalachian community and dealt with sin, guilt &
forgiveness, tied to the “atonement of the sins of man” by the crucifixion of
Jesus Christ and thematically that was typical of the modern use. However, the relationship between sin-eating
and the Christian ritual of communion is theologically tenuous. The communion, in which bread symbolizes the
body of Christ and wine symbolizes His blood is actually literal in the Roman
Catholic Church under the doctrine of transubstantiation which holds that
during the sacrament of the Eucharist (or Holy Communion), the bread and wine offered
by the priest to the communicants transforms into the body and blood of Christ. That obviously requires faith to accept
because while the appearances of the bread (usually a form of wafer) and wine (ie
their taste, texture, and outward properties) remain unchanged, their substance
(what truly they are at the metaphysical level) is said to transform into the
body and blood of Christ. Once
unquestioned by most (at least publicly), the modern theological fudge from the
Vatican is the general statement: “You need not believe it but you must accept it”.
Sin-eating
and communion both involve the consumption of food and drink in a symbolic
manner. In sin-eating, a sin-eater
consumes food placed near or on the corpse symbolically to “absorb” their sins
so the soul of the deceased may pass to the afterlife free from guilt while in
the Christian Eucharist, the taking of bread and wine is a ritual to commemorate
the sacrifice of Jesus who, on the cross at Golgotha, died to atone for the
sins of all mankind. So the central
difference is the matter of who bears the sins.
In sin-eating, that’s the sin-eater who personally takes on the
spiritual burden in exchange for a small payment, thus becoming spiritually
tainted in order that another may spiritually be cleansed. In other words, the dead may “out-source” the
cost of their redemption in exchange for a few pieces of silver. In the Christian communion, it’s acknowledged
Jesus has already borne the sins of humanity through His crucifixion, the
ritual an acknowledgment of His sacrificial act which offered salvation and
forgiveness of sin to all who believe and take him into his heart. One can see why priests were told to
discourage sin-eating by their congregants but historically the church, where necessary,
adapted to local customs and its likely the practice was in places tolerated.
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