Nothing says rebirth, renewal, and new life like the mass slaughter of lambs.
How is slaughtering and eating a helpless, young, farmed creature the acceptable and expected Easter celebration?
I ask this question not only to Christian, but to any other celebrants that partake in ritualized lamb eating.
It doesn't make sense.
At least, not these days.
Maybe, way back when, sacrificing an animal, and/or indulging in a feast of flesh had some relevance in context to the setting. Unlike now, people did not understand that the seasonal cycle was a cosmic/earthly certainty.*
People needed reassurance that the sun would return and the harvest would be plentiful. They sacrificed to those beings they deemed to be in control, as a prayer, as a thank you. They ate heartily in celebration and gratitude. But the times have changed.
I am aware that lambs are slaughtered at a later stage than shown in the picture above, nevertheless, they are still babies. Or a baby is the coveted age.
According to this article, older lambs, and even mutton are sold due to the high price of spring lamb, (such a misleadingly cheery name.)
This article gives a matter of fact account of the practice. For example, the mutton section appears to be written without the author batting an eyelid.**
On one side, this is good. It is, at least, honest. But the author's disconnect to the animals as more than a commodity is disturbing. Also, there's no talk of slaughterhouses, no pictures of bloody lambs. No in-depth details of overworked farmers and slaughterhouse employees (veganism concerns human suffering as well).
So, is the article really that honest?
To use Christian terminology: in my view, hell is factory farms, slaughterhouses, prisons and war zones. And they are all on earth and created by humans.
*Although, that is highly debatable when Neolithic symbols and structures are taken into account.
**Mutton are sheep older than three. In Ireland these are mostly ewes traded into the meat plants as “cull ewes”. They are culled because they don’t go into lamb, have traits you don’t want to breed from such as lameness or they can’t feed themselves because of teeth problems. These are called “broken mouthed ewes” and this can occur from the age of five.
No comments:
Post a Comment