sin eater
Funeral meal proxy
A sin eater was a person, usually poor, hired to absorb the sins of the recently dead by eating food placed on or near the corpse.
The practice, associated with parts of Britain and Appalachia through the 19th century, was believed to free the deceased's soul for peaceful passage to the afterlife.
The term now appears figuratively for anyone who takes on another's guilt or blame: He became the sin eater for the whole administration.
Deceased human body
- breadLeavened flour product
- saltSodium chloride compound
- funeralService honoring the dead
- deathbedDying person's resting place
vigil · communion · absolution · burial · offering · sacrifice · rite · purification
Formal clearing of guilt
- redemptionRecovery or moral restoration
- forgivenessReleasing resentment toward offenders
- expiationRedress for offense
- penanceSelf-mortification for wrongdoing
guilt · salvation · contrition · remorse · repentance · reconciliation · purification · unburdening
Of a Celtic nation
- traditionCustom passed through generations
- superstitionBaseless belief in omens
- legendUnverified traditional tale
- customHabitual group practice
lore · oral history · Appalachian · British Isles · folk belief · village · outcast · pariah
corpse
Deceased human body
deathbed · vigil · communion · absolution · burial · offering · sacrifice · rite · purification · penance
absolution
Formal clearing of guilt
- redemptionRecovery or moral restoration
- forgivenessReleasing resentment toward offenders
- expiationRedress for offense
penance · guilt · salvation · contrition · remorse · repentance · reconciliation · purification · unburdening · soul
Welsh
Of a Celtic nation
- traditionCustom passed through generations
- superstitionBaseless belief in omens
- legendUnverified traditional tale
custom · lore · oral history · Appalachian · British Isles · folk belief · village · outcast · pariah · beggar
soul
Innermost animating essence
- spiritSoul, mood, or liquor
- afterlifeExistence beyond mortality
- possessionState of owning
curse · haunting · damnation · ghost · medium · undead · specter · otherworld · liminal · death
- Old Jobsblacksmith, farrier, wheelwright, chandler, apothecary
- Welsh MythologyRhiannon, Dylan, Snowdonia