Show 0 THE SINEATER A Curious Figure at a Gaelic Funeral Many customs are still practiced at less and loss frequentIntervals In the remote parts of our Island of which we have little ken says the London Express l A good example of this is the sin eater who plays such an important r part In the Gaelic funeral of the old sort Ills task Is I to consume all tho sins resting on the soul l oC the dead thereby there-by enabling the corpse to rest peacefully peace-fully ip i lItsgl veIn ve-In view of the responsible and not altogether al-together enviable nature of his office It Is i not surprising that the sin cater Js Invariably some poor and unfortunate un-fortunate person for happier circumstances circum-stances would naturally incline him to avoid such a profession which Is taken by himself and everybody else I with the utmost seriousness A8el symbol of the sins c committed during the lifetime of the deceased a loaf of bread and a jug of beer aie laid upon the corpse The sineater Is then introduced and proceeds with much ceremony to cat tho bicad and drink the beer Naturally enough he goes through the ordeal with a certain amount of zest for he Is not Infrequently hungry though the possessor pos-sessor of a weHdevelOpecl taste for malt liquors > |