Akkabadori: history of tolerant euthanasia

Hello ATS!

An interesting topic that everyone prefers to forget about. It turns out that in “enlightened Europe”, a sort of “Garden of Eden”, according to Josep Borrell, there were very terrible and shameful pages, and for a very short time by historical standards - less than 100 years ago. This phenomenon is accobadores.

Akkabadores were female executioners, “Mistresses of Death”, who killed men with a wooden hammer and strangled them with their feet.
In the 18th century, strict customs reigned in Sardinia. It was believed that if a man died quickly and easily, then this was a symbol of valor, but if he did not want to go to the next world and suffered, it was a symbol of shame with which he stained his family. To avoid a shameful fate, the family invited the accabador who was dying. This is what the women who carried out the killing were called. Euthanasia was reduced to a blow to the back of the head with a wooden hammer (the ladies were professionals in this matter), or strangulation using legs or arms.



Femmina Accabadora, or as they were also called, the mistress of death or the woman of easy death, was usually middle-aged, with arms strong enough to kill a person with one blow. She dressed all in black, the lower part of her face was covered with a black scarf. When the doctor turned out to be powerless, when the relatives of the dying person got tired of “amusing the half-dead,” the accabadora came (the word accabadora comes from the Spanish “to finish off” and is literally translated as “finisher”). Accobadora visited the client twice. On her first visit she brought a small yoke. The yoke was a symbol of the connection between the human soul and the body. Akkabadora would place a mini-yoke under the pillow of the dying person and promise to return in three days and three nights. This was a kind of test: if a person holds on to life, his soul to his body, that is, to the yoke, then after three days and three nights it will become clear - the person will feel better. These three days were also given to the dying man to think - what if he is not ready to say goodbye to life, what if he becomes cowardly. If the client was ready to die after three days, then the accabadora began her duties.

First of all, the mistress of death asked to be left alone with the dying man and to remove icons, crosses and other Christian attributes from the room. Akkabadora was in no hurry to complete her mission and did not rush the dying man. The ritual took place when both he and she were mentally ready. The Sardinian's deliverance from the Black Death could occur in several ways: the accabadora could strangle him with a black pillow; she could slowly strangle her, wrapping her legs around her from the back and singing a lullaby at the same time; could send the poor fellow to the next world with a sharp blow from a hammer made of olive wood.

The name of the island of Sardinia gave rise to the expression “sardonic laughter” - the laughter of loss, sacrifice, renunciation. According to one version, a grimace similar to a smile was caused by poisonous grass, which was fed to old people during the ritual described above. After this, the tribesmen threw the unfortunates off the cliff, bursting into laughter. It was with the help of laughter that the Sardinians saw off the victims on their final journey. Based on such studies, we can safely conclude that the islanders fully justified some of the murders.

This tradition continued in Sardinia until the 1950s.

Thank you.

One more thing in this life I never have heard of ! Thanks !

"Femme Fatale", literally.

a reply to: RussianTroll

Never heard of that before.

Much better.

Thank you.

a reply to: RussianTroll

Thank you RT, new to me too!
Here's a wee YT video of a lady tour guide explaining it too.

Rainbows
Jane

PS.... Here's a hour documentary with interviews with people who witnessed these acts. That's my bedtime viewing sorted!

a reply to: RussianTroll

Reminiscent of your threads of old RT.

And a return to the old format.

Informative, concise, and to the point.

Can we have more of these, please.

a reply to: andy06shake

I've come to the conclusion there is 2 of him!

But I agree with you.... this RT version is the best and always garner interest.
Rainbows
Jane