Sin-eating survived the times of Aubrey and Bagford, for in a book, Christmas Evans, the Preacher of Wild Wales, by the Rev. Paxton Hood, Lond., 1881, he says: ‘The superstition of the Sin-eater is said to linger, even now, in the secluded vale of Cwm-Aman, in Carmarthenshire. The meaning of this most singular institution of superstition was, that when a person died, the friends sent for the Sin-Eater of the district, who, on his arrival, placed a plate of salt and bread on the breast of the deceased person; he then uttered an incantation over the bread, after which he proceeded to eat it, thereby eating the sins of the dead person; this done, he received a fee of two and sixpence, which, we suppose, was much more than many a preacher received for a long and painful service. Having received this, he vanished as quickly as possible, all the friends and relatives of the departed aiding his exit with blows and kicks, and other indications of their faith in the service he had rendered. A hundred years since, and through the ages before that time, we suppose this curious superstition was everywhere prevalent.’
Bread and salt are used in several ways. In Russia, Servia, and wherever the Greek Church holds sway, they are presented to honoured guests as a welcome. The custom even obtains in England. A correspondent of Notes and Queries (5 Series ix. 48), says: ‘Some years since I called for the first time on Canon Percy, of Carlisle, at his residence there. When refreshments had been offered and declined, he said: “You must have some bread and salt,” with some remarks to imply that it was the way to establish a friendship. These were then brought in and eaten, without anything to lead one to suppose that this was an unusual custom in the house.’
There was another curious custom in the North of England, as another correspondent shows in the same volume (p. 138): ‘In the North Riding, 20 or 30 years ago, a roll of new bread, a pinch of table salt, and a new silver groat, or fourpenny-piece, were offered to every babe on its first visit to a friend’s house. The gift was certainly made, more than once, to me, and I recollect seeing it made to other babies. The groat was reserved for its proper owner, but the nurse, who carried that owner, appropriated the bread and salt, and was gratified with a half-crown or so.’ Several other correspondents confirm this, and somewhat enlarge upon it, including in the gift an egg and a match. One (5 Ser. x. 216) thus explains the custom: ‘The custom of presenting an egg, etc., is widely distributed. I can answer for it in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, and Durham. In Lincolnshire, at the first visit of a new baby at a friendly house, it is presented with “an egg, both meat and drink; salt, which savours everything; bread, the staff of life; a match, to light it through the world; and a coin, that it may never want money.” This is the case at Winterton, where it is still done. In Durham, a piece of christening-cake is hidden under the child’s robe, and given to the first person of the opposite sex met on coming out of church. This is wholly distinct from the egg presentation.’ It is common at Edinburgh, and in other parts of Scotland, to give bread and cheese, on the Sabbath, to the first person of the opposite sex met with when the baby is taken to church to be baptised.
One of the most peculiar uses to which a loaf of bread could be put is the discovery of the bodies of drowned persons. The earliest instance I can find is in the Gentleman’s Magazine for 1767, p. 189. (It is also in the Annual Register for the same year.) ‘Wednesday, April 8.—An inquisition was taken, at Newbery, Berks, on the body of a child, near two years old, who fell into the river Kennet and was drowned. The jury brought in their verdict, Accidental death. The body was discovered by a very singular experiment, which was as follows: After diligent search had been made in the river for the child, to no purpose, a twopenny leaf, with a quantity of quicksilver put into it, was set floating from the place where the child, it was supposed, had fallen in, which steered its course down the river, upwards of half a mile, before a great number of spectators, when the body, happening to lay on the contrary side of the river, the loaf suddenly tacked about, and swam across the river, and gradually sunk near the child, when both the child and loaf were immediately brought up with grubbers ready for that purpose.’
This superstition has survived till modern times, as the following three or four instances will show. On January 24, 1872, a boy named Harris fell into the stream at Sherborne, Dorsetshire, near Dark Hole Mill, and was drowned. The body not having been found for some days, the following expedient was adopted to discover its whereabouts: On January 30, a four-pound loaf, of the best flour, was procured, and a small piece cut out of its side, forming a cavity, into which a little quicksilver was poured. The piece was then replaced and tied firmly in its original position. The loaf, thus prepared, was then thrown into the river at the spot where the boy fell in, and was expected to float down the stream until it came to the place where the body was supposed to have lodged, when it began to eddy round and round, thus indicating the sought-for spot; but on this occasion there was no result.
A writer in Notes and Queries, January 3, 1878, p. 8, says: ‘A young woman has singularly disappeared at Swinton, near Sheffield. The canal has been unsuccessfully dragged, and the Swinton folk are now going to test the merits of a local superstition which afirms that a loaf of bread containing quicksilver, if cast upon the water, will drift to, keep afloat, and remain stationary over any dead body which may be lying immersed out of sight.’
The Leeds Mercury, October 26, 1883, has the following: ‘A Press Association despatch says: Adelaide Amy Terry, servant to Dr. Williams, of Brentford, was sent to a neighbour with a message on Sunday evening, and as she did not return, and was known to be short-sighted, it was feared she had fallen into the canal, which was dragged, but without success. On Tuesday an old bargewoman suggested that a loaf of bread, in which some quicksilver had been placed, should be floated in the water. This was done, and the loaf became stationary at a certain spot The dragging was resumed there, and the body was discovered.’
The following is from the Stamford Mercury, December 18, 1885: ‘At Ketton, on Tuesday, an inquest was held by Mr. Shield, coroner, touching the death of Harry Baker, aged twenty-three, who was missed on the night of November 27, after the termination of the polling for the county election, and was believed to have walked into the ford, near the stone bridge, during the darkness. The river at that time was running strongly, and deceased had no companions with him. The dragging-irons from Stamford were obtained, and a protracted search was made in the river, but without result. However, in obedience to the wish of Baker’s mother, a loaf charged with quicksilver (said to have been scraped from an old looking-glass) was cast upon the waters, and it came to a standstill in the river at the bottom of Mr. Lewin’s field. Here the grappling-hooks were put in, and at four o’clock on Monday afternoon last the corpse was brought to the surface, having been in the water seventeen days. The river had been dragged several times before at this spot.’
Nor is this superstition confined to England, for in Brittany, when the body of a drowned man cannot be found, a lighted taper is fixed in a loaf consecrated to St. Nicholas, which is then abandoned to the retreating current, and where the loaf stops there they expect to find the body. In Germany the name of the drowned person is inscribed on the bread. And a somewhat similar idea seems to obtain among the Canadian Indians, for Sir Jas. E. Alexander, in his L’Acadie (p. 26), says: ‘The Indians imagine that in the case of a drowned body its place may be discovered by floating a chip of cedar-wood, which will stop and turn round over the exact spot. An instance occurred within my own knowledge in the case of Mr. Lavery, of Kingston Mill, whose boat overset, and the person was drowned near Cedar Island; nor could the body be discovered until the experiment was resorted to.’