Swine hair could be used to make toothbrushes or any other brushes... but I guess they didn't know this.
How did the pork taboo come about?
- Thread starter Green Painting
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Swine hair could be used to make toothbrushes or any other brushes... but I guess they didn't know this.
Probably it's because it's one of those animals that are useless alive. Cows and horses are beasts of burden and can be milked, goats and sheep have their wool and milk, and chicken have their eggs.
In most of Europe where the wild boar is rampant, eating pigs is not a problem. But in a resource-scare region that is the Middle East, pigs are just a waste of resources unless you feed them....waste!
In most of Europe where the wild boar is rampant, eating pigs is not a problem. But in a resource-scare region that is the Middle East, pigs are just a waste of resources unless you feed them....waste!
Actually, in most of Europe rest of pig bones are far more current in despositories than boars', that were only rarely a part of the meal. Both were extremly different, in spite of their similarities and were kept separated.
But again, it certainly doesn't explain why it was widespread in Middle-East and eaten by all the neighbours of Hebrews.
Hindu's go at it from a completely different angle.
Instead of saying its a taboo because its unclean or bad (or something) as the claimed reasoning for banning Pork, the reason for Hindu ban on Cows are because Cows are sacred, and deemed to important (access to workpower in the fields, and to a lesser extent milk), to demean them by eating them. They simply respect the help and 'multiplier' that the cows give high enough that they won't eat them out of respect (which have since evoled into outright taboos).
Instead of saying its a taboo because its unclean or bad (or something) as the claimed reasoning for banning Pork, the reason for Hindu ban on Cows are because Cows are sacred, and deemed to important (access to workpower in the fields, and to a lesser extent milk), to demean them by eating them. They simply respect the help and 'multiplier' that the cows give high enough that they won't eat them out of respect (which have since evoled into outright taboos).
Economics is the most commonly explanation I've read.
When asked the question, allegedly Gandhi aswered something like "would you eat your mother?" which I guess points to a deeply religious reasoning.
Yeah ... Cattle was critical for their argiculture, due to their massive force multiplier when it comes to workforce, without them they wouldn't be able to get enough food out the farms (given the terrain and climate and argicultural package, or all of the above) without stavation following.
Well, yes it happens. For exemple, the islamic alimentation taboos were definitely more respected more the contact with non-Muslims in order to differenciate themselves better.
Eventually, a good part of identitarian features tends to cristallize and their differences being exxagerated when at the contact of another people, some sort of "border spirit", if you want.
When we say being different there, it's not just about not doing the same thing than your neighbour, but about making an identitarian statement.
Now, xerex statement is a bit blunt, but as I tried to point above, there's some credence to be found in the general idea; especially when the usual explanations ("Everyone did that in Middle-East", "Medical causes" or other purely non-religious/cultural explanations) are either totally wrong (Hebrews were clearly a special case on this regard in the region, and medical explanations didn't appeared before the Middle Ages, when food taboos had to be justified while being concurrenced by other monotheistic practices).
I agree, it happens all of the time. A good example is in the Balkans in what had been the country of Yugoslavia. During the breakup people started to wear the traditional regional clothing and went out of their way to differentiate their speak for that of the other groups even thought they were speaking the same language.
Or look at the differences between English and American spelling. Noah Webster claimed it was because the American spellings made more since, but the timing is suspicious.
Or look at the differences between English and American spelling. Noah Webster claimed it was because the American spellings made more since, but the timing is suspicious.
I dunno about that man, Herodotus says Egyptians didn’t like pigs:
http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.2.ii.htmlsaid:
i also remember reading in Michael Flynn’s “introduction to cliology” that by the time of Hammurabi pig farming was already disappearing from Mesopotamia and the near east. Due to deforestation, and the fact that pigs consume more water than other animals.
The theory seems to be proposed by one, Carleton Coon but I can’t however find his original book.
The 3rd result for my goggle search for “Pigs, Hammurabi” seems to be of interest to the discussion.
http://etnologija.etnoinfolab.org/dokumenti/82/2/2009/harris_1521.pdf
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