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The Singular Beast
Throughout history, the slaughter and consumption of the pig has been the inspiration for role-playing and taboos, and at the centre of practices that defined the boundaries between Christians and Jews. An exploration of the pig in Judeo-Christian culture and European anti-semitism, this work chronicles the cultural and religious character of a creature that occupies an ambiguous place in the families of those who raise them - at once nearly a member of the family and a potential meal. The author details the folkloric beliefs still found among both provincial and urban Europeans and the rituals that have been associated with the slaughter and consumption of pigs from the Middle Ages until today. The book also demonstrates the continuing power of symbols to sustain or create ethnic identities.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published April 15, 1997
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January 25, 2015
Claudine Fabre-Vassas’ THE SINGULAR BEAST: JEWS, CHRISTIANS, AND THE PIG started as an ethnographic study of the significance of pigs in a portion of southwestern France. In its final version, however, it becomes a study of the significance of pigs in the religious life of rural European Christians, especially during the time between Christmas and Easter.
As part of the celebration of liturgical feasts, the Jews are often associated with pigs, and they become defined by what they reject. Circumcision evokes the castration of pigs, the blood on the doorposts at Passover is associated with pig’s blood, and countless other correspondences are made, one more fanciful than the next. And the imagery overlaps. Jews may be associated with pigs, but in some contexts, for example, the pig is Christ.
Although the book contains a certain amount of interesting information, I found the level of detail tedious, and I just couldn’t make myself care about the demonstration of Christian superstition and practice related to the pig. I also got tired of reading about Jews being persecuted for “killing Christ.”
As part of the celebration of liturgical feasts, the Jews are often associated with pigs, and they become defined by what they reject. Circumcision evokes the castration of pigs, the blood on the doorposts at Passover is associated with pig’s blood, and countless other correspondences are made, one more fanciful than the next. And the imagery overlaps. Jews may be associated with pigs, but in some contexts, for example, the pig is Christ.
Although the book contains a certain amount of interesting information, I found the level of detail tedious, and I just couldn’t make myself care about the demonstration of Christian superstition and practice related to the pig. I also got tired of reading about Jews being persecuted for “killing Christ.”
Displaying 1 of 1 review