What gender is the anthropomorfic representation of Death in your culture?

[Martinus]

Death is always female in Polish language/culture so I always find it odd when it is represented as a he in Terry Pratchett novels, for example.

[Syt]

Der Tod. Male.

[Valmy]

It is a skeleton but for some reason considered male. I guess women bring life and we bring death MUAHAHAHAHA

[Legbiter]

Dauði. Male. Icelandic also has word for the approach of death itself, feigð, which is female.

[Eddie Teach]

It is a skeleton but for some reason considered male.

Because women don't get boners. <rimshot>

[celedhring]

La Muerte, La Parca. Female.

Both in Spanish and in Catalan (and in French and Italian AFAIK), I presume that's a romance language thing.

[Brazen]

Death is always female in Polish language/culture so I always find it odd when it is represented as a he in Terry Pratchett novels, for example.

Interesting. Got any pictures of how she's depicted?

According to Wiki, the way we depict Death is relatively modern: "The popular depiction of Death as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe and clothed in a black cloak with a hood first arose in 14th century England, while the title "the Grim Reaper" is first attested in 1847."

That 14th century depiction probably coincided with the Black Death - skeletons on gravestones during the later 17th century plague certainly carried skeletons.

Terrifying section on Celtic Death: "Breton folklore shows us a spectral figure portending death, the Ankou (yr Angau in Welsh). Usually, the Ankou is the spirit of the last person that died within the community and appears as a tall, haggard figure with a wide hat and long white hair or a skeleton with a revolving head who sees everyone, everywhere. The Ankou drives a deathly wagon or cart with a creaking axle. The cart or wagon is piled high with corpses and a stop at a cabin means instant death for those inside.[3]

In Ireland there was a creature known as a dullahan, whose head would be tucked under his or her arm (dullahans were not one, but an entire species), and the head was said to have large eyes and a smile that could reach the head's ears. The dullahan would ride a black horse or a carriage pulled by black horses, and stop at the house of someone about to die, and call their name, and immediately the person would die. The dullahan did not like being watched, and it was believed that if a dullahan knew someone was watching them, they would lash that person's eyes with their whip, which was made from a spine; or they would toss a basin of blood on the person, which was a sign that the person was next to die.

In Scottish folklore there was a belief that a black, dark green or white dog known as a Cù Sìth took dying souls to the afterlife."

[Duque de Bragança]

La Muerte, La Parca. Female.

Both in Spanish and in Catalan (and in French and Italian AFAIK), I presume that's a romance language thing.

La Faucheuse in French for The Reaper too.
You can add Portuguese/Galician (for The Larch) to the list too: A Morte.
From mors, mortis, f in Latin.

[viper37]

It is a skeleton but for some reason considered male. I guess women bring life and we bring death MUAHAHAHAHA

same here.  Well, honestly, I don't know   It's been a while since I studied my own legends.

[Brazen]

It is a skeleton but for some reason considered male. I guess women bring life and we bring death MUAHAHAHAHA

"Sheesh, you could have told by the width of my pelvic bone, but I guess black is sooo slimming."

[Brazen]

I found this Death earlier. This one's definitely male. And listening to Death metal through those headphones, presumably.

[Syt]

While male in German, my favorite representation of Death is female, though.



"You lived what everybody gets. You got a lifetime."

[viper37]

I found this Death earlier. This one's definitely male. And listening to Death metal through those headphones, presumably.

people who dress like that prefer black metal, actually.  Death is way too mainstream for them

[Brazen]

people who dress like that prefer black metal, actually.  Death is way too mainstream for them

He was advertising a barbershop

[Hamilcar]

DEATH IS SOMEWHAT CONFUSED BY "GENDER".