A village in Shropshire, England, held an unusual memorial service in September to honour a “sin-eater” whose grave was restored through a local fundraising campaign.
The group raised the equivalent of over $1,500 to restore the grave of Richard Munslow, who was buried in Ratlinghope village in 1906.
Munslow was a “sin-eater” who was paid to eat bread or drink beer over a corpse in the belief that he would take on the sins of the deceased, should they have died without making a final confession. This was thought to ease a soul’s passage to heaven.
The belief could be found in areas near the border of England and Wales, but was frowned upon by the church and was rarely practiced beyond the 19th century.
“This grave at Ratlinghope is now in an excellent state of repair but I have no desire to reinstate the ritual that went with it,” Rev. Norman Morris, vicar of St. Margaret’s Church, told BBC news. — with files from the BBC
