The Sin-Eater: Lives and Afterlives (Rescheduled)

• 12/07/2022
• 18:00-19:30
• Online talk

Dr Helen Frisby (University of the West of England) explores the historical custom of sin-eating, together with its afterlife in film, TV and literature.

“The Sin-eater: lives and afterlives”: online talk, Tuesday 12 July 2022, 18:00-19:30 (rescheduled from 22 February 2022)

A sin-eater was a ‘long, leane, ugly, lamentable poor raskal’ (Aubrey, 1687) who, by eating a special ritual meal, consumed a dead person’s sins and helped them enter heaven. In this talk Dr Helen Frisby surveys the evidence for this fascinating old funerary character and their mysterious rituals in service of the souls of the deceased. As it turns out, things aren’t quite what they might first seem – but Helen will suggest that it’s the sin-eater’s very elusiveness within the historical record which has enabled them to rise again in present-day film, TV and literature.

Tickets £5.00 non-members; £3.00 Folklore Society members with Promo Code (log in to the Members Only area to get the Promo Code). To book, visit Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-sin-eater-lives-and-afterlives-tickets-174132343527

Every ticket sold helps the work of The Folklore Society.