Sunday, May 29, 2011

Necropants

While writing the previous post about Suzanne Lee and BioCouture I couldn't stop thinking that her clothes reminded me of something.
In her TED talk she mentions that they look a little like human skin.....

Oh wait, that's what it was.

Necropants.

This pair is in the Icelandic Museum of Sorcery and Witchcraft and are made of latex.
In medieval Iceland this macabre object was used as part of a ritual to get rich. An agreement would be made with a friend before his death. The death had to be natural and the body would have to be dug up and the skin removed from the lower half. The Necropants would have to be worn at all times next to the skin. A coin must be stolen from a poor widow and placed in the scrotum with this runic stave:
Apparently the scrotum would always be magically filled with money. For more information on the Necropants or other Viking histories have a look at this site.
Or watch this video. Necropants appear at 2:33.

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