Endangered Tradition
“The animals help us to re-establish that immediate contact with the wise reality of nature that has been lost for the civilized man.” Konrad Lorenz
From the antipodes of our species, man and animal find themselves within the cycle of nature.
This leads man to hunt, leading him to superstition, the survival of the species in the terms that evolution allows him. Breeding is part of this evolutionary circle, saving time and greatly reducing the risks of staying on an empty stomach. The history of this activity perpetuates for centuries, leading to modern society in industrial breeding.
But this has not prevented families anchored to the values of the tradition of living the old custom of raising pigs in their own home. Against any “barbarian” meaning that can arouse this habit, the preparation of the pig and its meat is a much larger field of meaning. The smells of the damp earth, the vapors of a boiled bowl, the shadows that intertwine under the dim lights of the early morning … everything is a ritual that seems almost sacred.
It is a time of family socialization, a motif of celebration, a hymn to the nature of man, cut off by the civilization that ultimately made him lose sight of what are the origins and pure instincts that the wind of industrialized society is sweeping away . We live within a natural cycle where from antipodes man confronts with that alienity that is the animal.
A twisted and fought relationship over the centuries, the nucleus of complex and illuminated diatribes of all kinds: philosophical, anthropological, scientific, simply human. But
it remains to be said that in the Neolithic era man was devoting himself to livestock farming. A normal evolution of our species, which has allowed man to confirm his identity, a glimpse of what is his reflection, is the mirror of an instinct that is ultimately inherent in the so-called human race: the animal instinct . And this echo has all a rumble of past, ancient traditions, history, image of free man in the expression of his true being.
No less authentic, therefore, the fact that some families – survivors of passing on an ongoing line of family customs – pigs. This rite encloses within itself a vast larger field of what can only appear at first glance.
The scent of the dry land under the early morning light, it blends with the vapors of the water-fed cauldron boiling on the fire. For the younger, or simply the most inexperienced, this seems to be a rite of initiation to a ritual that follows rather precise rhythms; it scans and flips that treasure of teachings given to past generations. And complicated or disapproving voices and glances intertwine in the courtyard along with the shadows that the first timid lights glitter.
It is a time of family socialization, a motif of celebration, a hymn to the nature of man, cut off by the civilization that ultimately made him lose sight of what are the origins and pure instincts that the wind of industrialized society is sweeping away .