Chef's Box And Ossuaries In Brittany: Finistère, Côtes d'Armor

Skull boxes, chief boxes: what are they? In this context, the word "chief" refers to the head of the dead person. In the 18th century, when space began to run out in cemeteries, it became customary to remove old graves to make room for new ones. This required moving the bodies. Thus, at least five years after death, once the flesh had decomposed, the bones were removed and piled up in the ossuary, an annex to the church. The piling of bones was done without distinction of gender or social class, making each person equal before death—at least in theory. One exception concerned the skull. If the identity of the remains was known, they were given to the family. But it was common to want to honor the deceased by displaying their skull in a consecrated place. To do this, the skull was stored in a painted box: the famous "chef's box", also called a "skull box" or "head box". These boxes were then placed on a shelf, most often within the ossuary, but sometimes within a church or even a cathedral - as in Saint-Pol-de-Léon. There was a label with the name and dates, but this has disappeared. These unusual objects - both beautiful and fragile - bear witness to funerary practices and post-mortem rites dating from at least the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century. This has been dusted, the juvenile skull has been screwed back on properly. Colors of Breton skull boxes The skull box is generally painted. In The Legend of Death, Anatole Le Braz reveals the meaning of the color code: white if the skull belongs to a child...