Strange Furneral Practices of the Past: Sin Eating and Waking the Dead

When we think of the American funeral we think of a funeral home having a 'visitation' usually before the burial. Some people have the casket present in the church and have visitation hour before a service. Others have the service graveside. We associate wakes with gathering at the home of relatives of the deceased that either happen the day before or the day of the burial. Truth is the process of visitation, calling hours, and wakes all have their roots in the same traditions. We tend to associate 'wakes" with the Irish as drinking and eating parties that the deceased attended sitting up in a chair.

Before funeral homes many times the funeral took place at the home of the person who passed and the religious service at the grave side. When embalming was not the norm; the practice of sitting with the body kept the body from becoming the focus of flies, rats, dogs, and cats. It also kept the jewelry and clothing the deceased wore safe from body snatchers before it was buried. Since in early days there were wide spread tales of folks being buried alive it gave a chance for everyone to be sure the deceased was really deceased and not comatose.

It was Celtic practice that popularized an eating and drinking party to celebrate the life of the deceased. Emotional toasts and somewhat institutionalized wailing or keening remembered the life of the departed and expressed the grief of the whole community at the passing of one of its beloved citizens. The body probably was placed in an upright position to symbolize that death was the ultimate freedom from the sick bed. Relatives who had spent weeks and possibly month's ministration at the sick bed were now given a much needed break of food, drink, and music to recover from the ordeal. Food was left so that the family of the deceased could concentrate on their grief and be freed from the daily chore of meal preparation.

It was early Christian practice for members of the deceased church to gather to pray for the soul of the recent departed to console the soul during it possibly unsure passing and to console the family. This was known as a "watching" and eating and drinking followed long periods of prayer to accommodate those who had stayed late in the day. The body was present and 'watched "for waking on the earth or more likely 'waking 'in heaven. It was thought that the soul needed spiritual support of the community to pass on to the next realm. Thus the whole social process until the time of burial became known as a "wake".

Many times those who professionally sat with the bodies performed ''follies" or "plays" of sorts to pass the time or disturb superstitious relatives. These death plays participated in and directed by professional body watchers portrayed for those doing visitation of the dead depicted duels and battles and other tragedies that reinforced the somber atmosphere. Many localities passed laws to keep mourners from gambling or doing other frivolous activities at wakes. These ''death "skits are seen by many as the source of the tragic player; that who later were so popular in morality plays.

Another odd profession associated with death in the United Kingdom has its roots in pagan practice. Harkening back to animal sacrifice a 'sin eater" was an outcast in the community who for a pittance and a meal would take on the sins of the deceased. They would consume a meal of bread, beer, and honey over a corpse and then be paid to leave the home of the departed having 'consumed" their sins in the process. The sin eater was an outcast in most communities and lived a life in isolation being avoided by all clean Christian folk. This was another practice that leads people to associate feasting with preparation of the dead for burial.

In Scotland one could make a living watching the body of the deceased as a professional while the family of the deceased socialized. The wealthier the family the longer they could pay the professional watcher to keep company with the body while they provided a party to larger community. This is no doubt the origins of the first funeral director because the professional watcher had a duty to keep the body in acceptable condition for viewing and burial. "Lykwake" or corpse sitting for money was a practice that was started in Jewish communities; and is still practiced in some Jewish communities today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_(ceremony)

http://www.sacred-texts.com/etc/fcod/fcod07.htm

http://www.yourirish.com/traditional-irish-wakes.htm