Who Were The Sin Eaters?

Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – Not so long ago a person could get employment as a sin eater and make some money on this unusual profession. As the name implies, sin eaters were those who consumed the sins of a deceased person.

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The Aztec religion offered a formal confession in case of sin or some serious crimes. According to tradition, the Aztecs had the possibility to confess their sins in front of their goddess Tlazolteotl.

The Aztec confession was an important ceremony that usually took place during the Festival of Ochpaniztli.

“After confessing, the person – dressed only in a paper skirt decorated with designs related to goddess Tlazolteotl – had to fast, and then go at night to one of the shrines built for women who died during childbirth. He had to leave its skirt behind, at the shrine – a symbol that they had left behind their sins.” ¹

In European countries, the sin eating ritual was much different. In most cases, a person had to eat something to swallow the sins of the deceased.

There are several accounts of sin eaters in Wales. One of the earliest of these stories can be found in The Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, a work of John Aubrey.

A letter from February 1, 1714 relates how sin eating was performed in Wales.

“Within the memory of our Fathers, in Shropshire, in those villages adjoying to Wales, when a person dyed, there was notice given to an old Sire, (for so they called him), who presently repaired to the place where the deceased lay, and stood 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.

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