The Traditional Funeral Food Superstitions and Customs of France’s Brittany Region

The Brittany region in France
(Credit: destination360.com)

The Breton people from the Brittany region in northwestern France possess many fascinating traditional superstitions and customs when it comes to food and its significance with deaths and funerals. Brittany’s beliefs about death can be traced back to their Celtic ancestors before the region became part of France.

When a family member dies from cancer, they put a plate of butter on a table near the cancer-stricken person who has recently passed because they believe butter will soak up all of the cancer.

One of the most prevalent Breton superstitions has to do with cancer. When a family member dies from cancer, they put a plate of butter on a table near the cancer-stricken person who has recently passed because they believe butter will soak up all of the cancer. After this task is completed, the recently passed loved one’s survivors take the plate of diseased butter somewhere outside to bury it as an assurance that none of them will be diagnosed with the disease in the future.

Why aren’t the Breton people allowed to have water? Its forbidden nature stems from superstitions surrounding the souls of the recently passed.

Credit: Wikipedia

Believe it or not, water resides on a forbidden list of liquids that the Breton people can be allowed to have in a house after a death. Why aren’t the Breton people allowed to have water? Its forbidden nature stems from superstitions surrounding the souls of the recently passed. For the soul of a recently passed person, it is not yet used to its new freedom to wander and any lure of water brings with it the risk of falling and drowning in it.

The Breton people also believe that honey intertwines with the souls of the recently departed. When flies would appear on the lips of the bodies of those who had died, they would then fly to the jar of honey that was present for the traditional midnight meal in the death chamber. They would fill up on as much honey as possible, which led the Breton people to believe that these flies held the souls of those who had recently died. Filling up on the honey was a way for them to prepare themselves for the expected lengthy journey to the spirit world.

For the Breton people, food superstitions and customs do not stop when you are dead. According to an old custom in Brittany, those who have died, rather than resting in peace, are forced to eat enough dirt in death compared to the amount of bread they consumed and wasted during their lives. Therefore, it seems like no one can catch a break even after he or she has died.

Read about more cultural perspectives on death here.