SC - bog burials

[Stefan li Rous]

Chip commented:
> Maybe it _was_ murder.  I've heard learn-ed observation/speculation
> that some bog people didn't wind up there by accident.  While the
> bog's a convenient place to ditch the body of the guy who owed you
> money (uh, ah ... so I'm told), it's not just for breakfast anymore.
> Some forensic evidence suggests that they were ritualistically and
> deliberately killed, then pitched into the peat.  Some say this was
> done as a sacrifice.  To whose god, I cannot say.  Crom, perhaps.
> 
> Now maybe (and here comes the wild speculation on my part) the grain
> was burnt as part of the ceremony (as things often are) and fed to the
> sacrificial "volunteer" who was then bound by the wrists, whacked on
> the noggin and relegated to a squishy grave.

I thought I had more in my files on this, but I guess not. Here is a
message which is out of this file in the LIFE-STEPS section of my
Florilegium:
burials-msg       (27K)  4/13/99    Period funeral practices.

And no, unfortunately, I never did get the bibliography that Bill
promised below. :-(

And I agree with a recent Star Trek episode that you can learn a
lot about a culture from the burial practices it observes.

Stefan

> From: Bill McNutt (11/29/93)
> To: Mark Harris
> RE>Religion and the Societ
> 
> I can't document anything, for I was a mere student, but...
> 
> The cultures are primarily British Isles, early France, and Scandinavia.
> 
> The time period is from early SCA period to late 1600's, I believe.
> 
> Bogs varied in content and consistency. Anything that could serve as nothing
> but a garbage dump was used. Mud, and silt, cold, with a low organic content
> have yielded the most useful finds, but finds have been made in all manner of
> muddy holes.
> 
> Reasons for bog burials are many. For some, esp. late, it was a punishment.
> Bogs were not generally hallowed ground. Bogs were also mostly useless for
> anything else, so contaminating them with dead bodies didn't present a
> problem. Bog burials are cheap in terms of time and money, as well. In many of
> the locations bog burial was used, permafrost or scarce firewood were
> considerations to be, well, considered. In some areas, firmer ground was
> sufficiently scarce to warrant not wasting it on dead meat.
> 
> It was also customary to evicerate the deceased and stuff him with stones to
> prevent him from floating up.
> 
> The willow staples and stones also served the purpose of keeping the cadaver
> from getting up and annoying the neighbors or coming home.
> 
> I'll hit Stephanie up for her bibliography and get it back to you. I'm sure
> I'm getting a lot of this stuff wrong.
> 
> May the Wind Be At Your Back,
> WRM

- -- 
Lord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas           stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****
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