What is a Sin-Eater?
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A sin-eater is a traditional type of spiritual healer who uses a ritual to cleanse the dying of their sins. The sin-eater absorbs the sins of the people he or she serves and typically works for a fee. As the sins are usually consumed through food and drink, the sin-eater also gains a meal through the transaction. Sin-eaters are often outcasts, as the work may be considered unsavory and is usually thought to lead to an afterlife in hell due to carrying the unabsolved sins of others. The Roman Catholic Church regularly excommunicated sin-eaters when they were more common, not only because of the excessive sins they carried, but also because they infringed upon the territory of priests, who are supposed to administer Last Rites to the dying according to Church Doctrine.
The sin-eater saves the dying not only from hell, but also from wandering the earth as a ghost - thereby performing a service for the living as well. In some traditions, sin-eaters perform their work for the moribund, while in others, the ritual takes place at the funeral. The sin-eater is usually associated with the British Isles, but there are analogous customs in other cultures as well.
A sin-eater typically consumes bread as part of the ritual of taking on the dying person's sins. He or she may also eat salt or drink water or ale. Sometimes, special breads are baked for the purpose of the sin-eating ritual, perhaps featuring the initials or image of the deceased. The meal is sometimes passed over the dead or dying body or placed on its breast to symbolize its absorption of the person's sins. The sin-eater may also recite a special prayer.
Some cultures have customs that are similar to sin-eating and may have evolved from more traditional forms of the ritual. Instead of a designated, outcast sin-eater serving a village, for example, the deceased's nearest relatives may perform the service, as was once traditional in Bavaria and the Balkan Peninsula. In the Netherlands and some parts of England, ritual baked goods were given to the attendants or pallbearers at a funeral. This latter tradition lived on for a time in New York. Today, the custom of the sin-eater has largely died out, though it is often referenced in popular culture.
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Discuss this Article13
To: void 2010...An answer to your post maybe... Sin Eater - Google Books Result by Isaac DeLuca - 2005 - Religion - 64 pages This book is a guide to those who would become such a person, and serves as a manual for a successful ministry as a sin eater. - anon33332
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I have a friend from Clackmannan, Scotland whose uncle is a known Sin-Eater. People seek him out for the purpose of taking their loved ones sins. We were never allowed to watch the ceremony but, *it did happen!* - anon29462
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What a Sin eater is or isn't would depend on your belief system; if you have no belief system then obviously this concept is going to seem ludicrous: so why bother putting a narrow minded view of something you can't understand?Also, not all sin eaters are of the Christian faith, nor do they go by that name. Sin Eaters did exist. It is historical fact. Whether they still do, is a point of contention; does it work, can't be answered by someone who hasn't had the experience or has no faith: the whole idea is a spiritual and faith-based idea. Why do people who don't believe in God talk about God like there is one and then finish up by saying God doesn't exist? How is that suppose to work? - anon27926
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Please do yourself the favour of watching the movie "The last sin eater". It is based on the novel by Francine Rivers. This book will portray the hopelessness on this earth without God's amazing plan for humankind....that He humbled himself to come in an earthly body to do what not one human being is able to do...to give hope and forgiveness of sins once and FOR ALL - if you are only available to accept the free gift of salvation and live for the One who gave Himself for you. If you don't agree, read the Bible first and then decide..... - anon22278
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People become sin-eaters for alot of reasons some think themselves god's others because they want to make sure the ones they love go to a better place. Unless you have made the choice they have, you can never understand them. - anon21311
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Why is it that whenever you are discussing anything that doesn't agree with church (a lot of things, mind you, and they'd just burn anyone for not agreeing with them if they still could), Christians always throw "Jesus Christ" and bible into your face?What is interesting though, is that by this concept, all the sins should stay on earth, while the dead pass on cleansed. If Sin-Eating persisted and suppose it really worked, then in some millenniums, the earth would be full of people carrying over hundreds of sins from hundreds of generations. Is that really productive, as in: last one loses? Of course, it still wouldn't work, cause anyone can choose, to do it or not... but still. - anon20530
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the last sin eater is a great movie check it out! - anon20108
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void2010: A pretty good book that teaches you some basics is:Sin Eater: A Ministry of Suffering you can find it on amazon. anon18937: As have core to understand the world around us you are held responsible. But what you fail to notice is the sin eater does have a choice upon taking what has been done unto him self. The sin eater does not have to show up. anon18278: Some people do like to find other ways by either being ashamed of what they have done and would rather it go unnoticed as they pass into heaven. And in their own belief john may not be be as true they are only apostles not god himself or jesus. anon16350: there are truth folklore and lies behind anything it depends what you believe to be true anon15237:maybe some think they are god but all do not. I have read the bible do you not ask for forgiveness through someone? Where does it say that someone cannot pay for what you have done? Families pay for the sins of their for father all the time. We pay for adam and eve if you believe in them. A sin eater can be just a messenger of god deciding if you are valid to go to heaven or not. On a side note I aso think that sin eating is a away to escape from what you have done but it is also necessary for some who's goods out weight the bad. It maybe a way for a family to not pay for what a member has done. A sin eater is generally a beggar or a out cast out of choice or out of scrutiny because of how people treat them.
- anon19138
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How arrogant are christians to assume they actually know they mind of their god? Only even more arrogant than the leaders of their churches, who refuse to offer absolution to those they promised to guide and protect, while exerting enough power and greed to become the single most wealthy (and corrupt) power in the history of the human race.Wake up, people - there is no god to save you, no sin-eater to absolve you when the church has found you in disfavor, no messiah to relieve you of your burden - YOU are responsible for yourself, and only YOU can allow yourselves to be free of this tyranny. - anon18937
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Yes, I have watched "The Order". Thats also how I heard about sin eaters for the first time. It is true that there have been people that have tried to do this. But there is no real truth in it at all! People think that it works, but honestly....do you really think that one person (besides Jesus Christ) can do this? I think not! But I have done some research on sin eaters and they did, and probably still do exist today. But I wouldn't go searching for one, when the TRUE sin eater is very easy to find!! Read JOHN 3:16 - anon18278
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Have you seen the movie, "The Order", with Heath Ledger? I just watched and was hence introduced to the idea of "sin eating". Is there any truth behind this movie or the concept of sin eating? - anon16350
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Sin-Eaters think they are God. They are deceiving others as well as themselves! The only One that can truly take on the burden of our sins and forgive them is Jesus Christ!! Try reading the bible for the answers you are searching for! God Bless!! - anon15237
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Do you know of any living sin eater, or of how one can become a sin eater? Thank you. - void2010
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