{"id":5105,"date":"2014-09-10T07:40:16","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T11:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/?p=5105"},"modified":"2014-09-09T13:36:52","modified_gmt":"2014-09-09T17:36:52","slug":"the-sin-eater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2014\/09\/10\/the-sin-eater\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sin Eater"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our little bit of history today comes from the depths of my Evernote where I had saved an article by Meg Favreau on Table Matters<\/a> about the custom of funeral cakes, and sin eaters.\u00a0 This reminded me of i09’s article “The Weird but True History of Sin Eaters<\/a>”\u00a0 and then the BBC article<\/a> about how the grave of Richard Munslow<\/a>, the last known sin eater in the UK, had been recently (2010) restored.<\/p>\n

It’s a kind of hapless research I have in my Evernote; collections of articles and links on a subject growing larger over years, never collated.\u00a0 Sin eaters would become outcasts, tainted in the public eye by the sins they had taken from the recently deceased.\u00a0 The custom usually includes eating and drinking bread and wine that had been passed over the dead.\u00a0 The sin eater was paid for their trouble, that of carrying the sins for the rest of their days, but also shunned.<\/p>\n

The custom is sometimes tied to Leviticus, and thought to be a mutated practice of scapegoating, where humans and not goats are given the transgressions and cast out.<\/p>\n

This custom alludes (methinkes) something to the Scape-goate in ye old Lawe.\u00a0 Leviticus, cap. xvi, verse 21, 22.\u00a0 “And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goate and confesse over him all ye iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fitt man into the wilderness.\u00a0 And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities, unto the land no inhabited: and he shall let the goat goe unto the wilderness.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

-Hartland, E.S. (1892) “The Sin-Eater.”\u00a0 Folklore<\/em>.\u00a0 3(2); 145-157.<\/p>\n

But the practices of making one person a sacrifice for a whole community is very common.\u00a0 Wikipedia’s scapegoat <\/a>discusses the Greek custom of casting out a crippled member of the community, especially when facing an immanent threat.\u00a0 Cultures all over the world have had traditions of sacrifice<\/a> deep in their past, and though most of the world now shuns ritual killings, the tradition of sacrifice continues on in narrative<\/a>, worship<\/a>, and even politics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Names for things and rituals may change a little, but I’m not really sure there ever will be a last sin-eater.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our little bit of history today comes from the depths of my Evernote where I had saved an article by Meg Favreau on Table Matters about the custom of funeral cakes, and sin eaters.\u00a0 This reminded me of i09’s article “The Weird but True History of Sin Eaters”\u00a0 and then the BBC article about how… Continue reading The Sin Eater<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[123],"class_list":["post-5105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-research"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4640,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2015\/03\/03\/writing-assistance\/","url_meta":{"origin":5105,"position":0},"title":"Writing assistance","author":"leems","date":"March 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I am planning a writing holiday; a week long stay-cation dedicated to getting some writing done.\u00a0 This spring has felt exceptionally devoid of holidays and vacations and I have at least three stories that I've started and not finished. \u00a0 I also have a lovely library slash dining room\/office that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5121,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2014\/04\/16\/bryophyllum-pinnatum\/","url_meta":{"origin":5105,"position":1},"title":"Bryophyllum pinnatum","author":"leems","date":"April 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is where I laugh at myself and this is the story. I am dreaming of gardening lately and, of course, I had to do some research into native and hardy plants. While snipping a plant description my Evernote told me I had a similar note, namely one snipped from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bryophyllum pinnatum","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/411px-Kalanchoe_pinnata_Blanco1.147.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4247,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2013\/08\/21\/little-rhymes\/","url_meta":{"origin":5105,"position":2},"title":"Little rhymes","author":"leems","date":"August 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Hey, I found this thing I did in my Evernote: Solomon Schmidt was a solemn little boy With a compulsive obsession for mathematics lessons He eschewed any game and denied any toy In favor of savoring divisors of seven I have to share it because I used the word eschewed.","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8804,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2019\/12\/20\/finding-christmas-in-john-margolies-roadside-america\/","url_meta":{"origin":5105,"position":3},"title":"Finding Christmas in John Margolies Roadside America","author":"leems","date":"December 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Santa's Workshop, reindeer detail, Whiteface Mountain, North Pole, New York Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http:\/\/hdl.loc.gov\/loc.pnp\/mrg.00263 I collect little things all year, clipping from websites in my Evernote, saving or favoriting posts in my rss feedreader. These are things I don't want to forget,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Santasworkshop.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Santasworkshop.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Santasworkshop.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Santasworkshop.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1545,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2012\/07\/31\/sin-from-unlikely-bedfellows\/","url_meta":{"origin":5105,"position":4},"title":"Sin from Unlikely Bedfellows","author":"leems","date":"July 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Comics"","block_context":{"text":"Comics","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/comics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Sin001.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6743,"url":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/2015\/11\/25\/im-reading\/","url_meta":{"origin":5105,"position":5},"title":"I’m reading","author":"leems","date":"November 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm reading an article as background research for an article that I am writing where the author is quoting me from an article I have already written. Yes. from:\u00a0 Kluzek, M. (2014). A practical guide to e-journal and e-book supply \u2013 a UK perspective. Interlending & Document Supply, 42(1), 13.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/blog\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"quote","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/quote.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5105"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5247,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5105\/revisions\/5247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theleemsmachine.com\/bean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}