Marvin Harris discusses in "The Abominable Pig," why the Israelites banned all contact with pigs despite their immense amount of meat available for consumption. Pigs were seen as extremely unclean and filthy; a disturbing item to eat. Old religious writings explain why pigs are forbidden, with the main reason because of the dirty and loathsome habits they have. Harris describes why pigs are born with these habits. Pigs are not able to release heat from their body, so when temperatures rise they are forced to cover themselves in some sort of liquid. Whether it be water, mud, or even their own urine and fecal matter, they need to cool off in order to prevent a heat stroke. This unclean lifestyle was seen as horrendous to the public.
Besides a pigs way of cooling down, they were also a pain to take care of. Pigs were not able to plow or graze, and had a higher maintenance requirement than most other animals. They need extra shade and water, and also ate foods that humans could eat themselves. Pigs were seen as an all around negative animal. Harris then goes into detail about when laws were produced that gave people the "okay" to eat a pig if it was cooked properly. The research Harris did showed that the laws created forbidding certain animals were to protect the people for their own good.
In "Deciphering a Meal" by Mary Douglas, she describes how the anatomy of animals is used as a reference to Hebrew dietary laws. Not only does the taxomony of animals create values for marriage of people, but also the form of government. Where these rules come from, are the Jewish religion's common meal which have been in existance for a great period of time. According to Douglas, there are three rules about meat based on the common meal. The rules are; some animals are unfit for the table, separating blood from meat must be done before an animal is considered edible, and separating milk from meat. There are also certain rules for an animal to be edible depending on whether it lives on land, water, or in the air. With these guidelines about where an animal lives, one can tell if it can be eaten or not. This is the Mosiac Code, which helps classify relationships between humans and animals. Douglas elaborates on how purity plays such an important role from an animal to a person for the Israelites. There are boundaries of holiness that are based upon purity. How animals play such an important role to Israelites is still a major question for Douglas.
Comparison
These two articles have a lot in common even though they are not talking about the same exact topic. Both of their information deals with the importance animals have on people in the Middle East, mainly Israelites. Harris focuses on one animal (the pig) and elaborates on how/why Israelites chose not to eat them before certain laws came about. Douglas tended to focus on the way people from the Middle East used animals and their way of life as a model for their marriages and government. Both of these articles described rules and boundaries that played a major role in what decisions people were making. Certain animals were not to be eaten, but Harris narrowed his research on the pig instead of the rules/regulations in a big picture like Douglas.
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