Posted on 02/03/2008 7:23:45 AM PST by decimon
Butcher Timmy Guidry, right, holds down the pig before butchering it during La Grande Boucherie des Cajuns Saturday Feb. 2, 2008, in St. Martinville, La. 'The boucherie is so important to our culture,' said Denise Leger, 34, a Cajun Catholic from New Iberia who helped her uncle butcher the pig. (AP Photo/Brad Kemp)
ST. MARTINVILLE, La. - Far from the Carnival balls, parades and raucous crowds of New Orleans, Cajuns in St. Martinville held their last "bon temps" before Lent in a far different fashion: with a grand boucherie, or slaughtering of a pig.
Hundreds of people watched at least part of the ritual Saturday, though most have seen it before. The pig's skin was being shaved for cracklins, a Cajun snack, while the carcass was being prepared for transport to a butcher shop.
"The boucherie is so important to our culture," said Denise Leger, 34, a Cajun Catholic from New Iberia who helped her uncle butcher the pig. "A lot of people give up their favorite foods, like boudin, as a penance during Lent."
Every year, Catholic Cajuns in this community about 140 miles west of New Orleans hold "La Grande Boucherie des Cajuns" the weekend before Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent.
"This is a celebration that was started out of necessity," said Stephen Hardy, 38, who leads the group organizing the event. "Before refrigeration, they had to share the slaughter. One family could not consume a whole hog before it would go bad. They would have family and friends over to help, and everyone would leave with something."
Back then, he said, a family would either host or attend a boucherie about once a month. With meat readily available at any grocery store today, the boucherie is simply a celebration of an old tradition, bringing family and friends together once a year for one last hoorah before the Catholic season of fasting begins.
Unlike other Carnival celebrations, food is the focus in Cajun communities like St. Martinville. In Mamou, locals ride on horseback collecting ingredients for a community gumbo during the "Courir de Mardi Gras," or "Fat Tuesday Run."
"I don't think I'll be able to watch them kill the pig, but I sure like the food," Jody Gibbens, of Bandera, Texas, said Saturday as she sipped a beer and weighed her lunch options as a band played in the background.
Federal health code regulations prevent attendees from eating what is slaughtered during the celebration, Hardy said. So the butcher, after showing what is done traditionally, will take the carcass and byproducts to his shop to finish preparing the meat.
He'll have plenty of options: salt meat, patties and sandwiches, sausages such as andouille and boudin, rice and pork dressing stuffed in an edible casing, head cheese and cracklins, among them.
Nothing goes to waste, Hardy said. The skin of the hog is scraped and the fat layer next to it rendered into lard for cooking. The skin and attached fat are what's fried to make the crisp, tasty cracklins.
Twelve-year-old Sage DeLaunay's arms were dripping with fat after he beat out more than 20 kids to win a greased pig contest — and the lard-covered piglet he nabbed.
"This was my first time, and I'm so excited," he said. "I'm gonna raise it and kill it one day."
Not me, all the planes I fly on keep the doors locked and they don't issue parachutes.....
I could care less if they shoot a lizard and think it’s crazy to make a kid eat one.
mammals yes...my kids are not allowed to kill mammals pell mell...but my cats are..lol
this is one of those paradoxes.........
40 years ago no one cared about killing a kid killing a lizard
today, yall’s opinion is not unusual at all, there are now folks who anguish over stepping on bugs
and some folks think we’re more civilized.
50 million voluntarily killed babies later.
me personally, I’d prefer to go back to when killing lizards with BB guns was permissible and ignored and abortion was illegal most places.
culture changes not in a straight line
PS...when we were boys, our moms were more worried about us shooting one another...and yes did happen
Did they invite the Saudi royal family?
Nah, Cajun men don't walk hand-in-hand. Not openly, anyway.
How times have changed.
Or... You ever seen an eggplant? Sure. You’ve been farther up a hens butt than I have.
“These people are the salt of the earth,...”
Amen! We had the pleasure of spending a pre-Mardi Gras weekend in St. Martinsville some years ago (missed the pig slaughter, however). Charming little town with wonderful, warm, down-to-earth people. Loved every second we spent there.
***Yes they are.***
No they are not. I have killed many an old hen who had perfectly HARD eggs still in them and I used to work in the ggg production industry. I still have a few laying hens for my own use.
http://www.msstate.edu/dept/poultry/avianemb.htm#form
“The shell is added in the uterus or shell gland portion of the oviduct. The shell is composed mainly of calcium carbonate. It takes about 20 hours for the egg shell to form. If the hen lays brown eggs, the brown pigments are added to the shell in the last hours of shell formation.”
ggg= should be egg.
Proofread,
Proofread.
Proofread!
Although not born into the ‘culture’, my birth in Louisiana and many years afterwards brought me much pleasure as I embraced the people of south Louisiana and their culture.
laisser les bon temps rouler = let the good times roll....
Did you put a plastic baby in it?
***“These people are the salt of the earth,...”***
Our plant manager was a Cajun. Never was a man more hated than him. When he died after retiring we all hoped they would bury him here because we didn’t want to charter a bus to go all the way to Louisiana just to p!$$ on his grave.
I am sure there are better examples of Cajuns than that worthless hide.
Okay, well who am I going to believe, some person on the internet or my own fingers. Who knows, maybe there was something wrong with the chickens but they were soft. Not smushy but they did give as I picked them up.
>>Did you put a plastic baby in it?<<
Yup! And warned those about to eat that the one who got the baby made the cake the next year.
I got the baby in my piece! Go figure.
These same people would not survive 24 hours under certain conditions and settings. They do fine when professional killers have cleaned up a place before they get there.
***Not smushy but they did give as I picked them up.***
There may have been something wrong with the chicken. I have seen a few eggs without hard shells and they are worthless for anything.
***Okay, well who am I going to believe, some person on the internet or my own fingers. Who knows, maybe there was something wrong with the chickens but they were soft. Not smushy but they did give as I picked them up.***
In thinking it over again maybe it was not an egg you picked up.;-)
I track some of that in on my shoes to often.
Damn straight!
Good question. Since we started ignoring the Constitution, I guess.
Carolyn
Oh, the muslims will just use our own politically correct government to forcibly shut down this festival in the name of tolerance.
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