DE Name Origin, & some Dark Mark

[meglet2]

No: HPFGUIDX 36580

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Amanda" <editor at t...> wrote:
>  My husband tells me that the name
> "Death Eater" instantly reminded him of Sin Eaters--the name for an 
old
> Welsh practice, whereby a willing person "took on" the sins of a 
dying
> person, and would go to confession and do the penance for them, to 
save the
> dying person from the consequences of their sin (I'm presuming that 
this was
> done when a priest wasn't handy to do Last Rites, or something; 
it's been
> quite a few months since my husband and I discussed this). Any 
Welsh people
> got anything else on this?

Very interesting Amanda. I have a Welsh friend who grew up in Welsh 
speaking Anglesey and told me monwho in bygone days went through the 
village eating the sins and evil of people at the point of death but 
it was not to protect their souls but to acquire a sort of evil 
immortality, a la Voldy and co indeed. He had wondered if JKR knew of 
that legend, but when I asked that question on a different list 
(before I knwo of this one) someone replied from an institute for 
Celtic Studies in Cardiff (I think) saying they knew nothing about 
the legend. So thank you for showing that at least one other Welsh 
person besides my friend has heard of something similar but perhaps 
my friend is confusing JKR's version with what he might have heard 
about the sort of ancient practice your husband has described.
> 
>  I think it ties the
> Death Eaters to Voldemort for life and more; I think it likely that 
part of
> the bond is that if Voldemort dies, they all will, too.
> 
> It seems his style, to demand such a commitment, and it would 
guarantee
> their support of him (you'd think), and it would be a very good 
reason for
> Snape to look pale or Dumbledore to look anxious at the end of book 
4--even
> when you have known for years what you will do, and come to terms 
with what
> will happen, still, walking out the door to begin steps that will 
lead, if
> successful, to your own death, cannot be a thing one does lightly.

This is also a very interesting gloss on the whole thing and as you 
say would make a lot of sense of Snape's mission. I am among those 
who think it is too unlikely that he is simply going back to spy when 
his cover is completely blown IMO.

Mercia
> 
>