The Sin Eater

The Sin Eater

He came down from the mountainside
This was his calling; his path
If people saw him,
he would not see them.
Children were hushed indoors
While he passed by.
It wasn't leprosy.
He was the sin eater.
It was a ceremony of bread and beer
Held over the warm body of the dead.
The sin eater entered
Hated and feared but invited.
A wooden bowl of beer would be
Passed over the body.
He would drink and say,
"I give easment and rest
Now to thee, dear man."
Then take a piece of bread
from off the chest
Of the deceased and continue,
"Come not down the lanes
Or in our meadows.
For thy own peace,
I pawn my own soul, amen"

Proud we are to be past
Those pagan ways
But when we were dead
In trespasses and sins,
the rejected sin eater came
He took the bread and said
"This is my body
Which was broken for you"
And the cup,
"This is my blood
Which was shed for you
Someday, you will walk
The lanes and meadows
Of paradise."


This practice is still done in appalachia. It was also popular during the middle ages.