The Sin-Eater
Dr Helen Frisby
- Region:
- Anywhere
- Notice Period:
- Short (maybe less than one month's notice)
- Type:
- Academic
- Fee:
- Paid: 50.00
- Category:
- History
- Updated:
- 19th December 2022
- Tagged:
- Death And Dying | Folklore | Film | Literature
Sin-eaters were once paid to quite literally consume the sins of a dead person, so that the latter could progress unburdened into the afterlife. Records of sin-eaters can be found across the British Isles, from the seventeenth through to the early twentieth century. However, once we begin to unpick the evidence, things aren't always quite what they might initially seem. The second half of this talk therefore focuses on how later writers and filmmakers have appropriated the sin-eater for more modern aims. This talks works best when film clips can be shown.
Views: 297 | Enquiries: 0About Dr Helen Frisby
We're all going to die: but the ways in which we approach, avoid and attempt to subvert mortality are particular to time and place. Exactly how we do so, and how we relate to the dead, reveals our most treasured values and profound hopes and fears in life.
Following a PhD on Victorian funeral customs from the University of Leeds in 2009, I'm now an internationally recognised expert on the history and folklore of death, dying and funerals. My most recent publication is the Shire Library book 'Traditions of Death and Burial' (Bloomsbury, 2019) - it's the history of death, dying and funerals since the Middle Ages that I've always wanted to write. Previously I've appeared on the History Channel discussing Victorian funerals with Johnny Vaughan, and on BBC radio talking about sin-eating and other historic funeral customs.
Based on my own original research, my sympathetic, scholarly yet gently humorous talks about funeral customs past, present and future will get your group thinking and talking about how exactly do we deal with this inevitable fact of life.
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