A sin-eater is a person who consumes a ritual meal in order to spiritually take on the sins of a deceased person. The food was believed to absorb the sins of a recently dead person, thus absolving the soul of the person.
Cultural anthropologists and folklorists classify sin-eating as a form of ritual. It is most commonly associated with Scotland, Ireland, Wales, English counties bordering Wales, and Welsh culture.

Another interpretation more culturally relevant is that a sin eater is a person in a community who is continually scapegoated but slightly revered. This person exists to personify or be the archetype of the community failings. When trouble hits, few want to take responsibility but all want to affix blame.

Having DNA from all those cultures I can assure myself that I am not a sin eater.
I have enough of my own sins to eat to take on anyone elses.
Peace can only be found by going within. Forgiveness starts with forgiving yourself.

Seventy-Eight

Under heaven nothing is more soft and yielding than water.
Yet for attacking the solid and strong, nothing is better;
It has no equal.
The weak can overcome the strong;
The supple can overcome the stiff.
Under heaven everyone knows this,
Yet no one puts it into practice.
Therefore the sage says:
He who takes upon himself the humiliation of the people, is fit to rule them. He who takes upon himself the country’s disasters deserves to be king of the universe.”
The truth often sounds paradoxical.

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu
Translation by Ray Burgess