Horse meat - Muslims, Christians, Jews etc.

[Bigbilly147]

What are their dietary laws concerning the consumption of horse meat?

It's been common at different points in the western history... but then apparently banned by the Christians to stem Paganism. The Mongolians of ancient times would go on war campaigns with no or very little provisions and survive largely on the blood of the horses they were riding.

I'd recently read that both Muslims and Jews have dietary laws concerning the consumption of horse meat.

Anyone know any more detail?

Would you personally eat horse meat?

If not... why not?

 

[briahebabieee]

I would not eat horse but i do not eat dog, cow, pig, chicken etc. I do eat fish and seafood though. I ate horse many times in Germany and if I was still eating meat I would have no moral issue with eating horse or more usually pony, you can get Horse meat in London if you know where to go, it is ostensibly sold for dog food but is cut into cuts by butchers at a stall in one of the meat markets and is usualy bought by eldery Italian and German women. I am sure I saw horsemeat salami there as well.

Pagansin ancient Britain had restrictions on eating horse as it was eaten at certain festivals only to honour the horses importance to their way of life.

edited because I am having a very dislexic day

 

[BachataMouse]

Interesting... am I correct in assuming that there was a wide variance amongst Pagans regarding eating horse meat? Surely not all of them ate it only as a ceremonial meal.
I do realize you stated explicity Britain pagans.

 

[Gilrandir]

Which I guess also makes me wonder where one draws the line in raising horse meat. There are any number of horse that are retired out of pro horse racing and for that matter the same for greyhounds in pro dog racing.

Could those animals be used as a sustainable source of protein for the less fortunate?

 

[Haylee]

Britis h pagans in particular the Eponi and Brigante followed these practices, I do not know about the Dalreadans and Picts in this regard. Celtic people at thsi time had a sort of clan or extended family culture rather than a "national" culture as we see it now.

 

[prainva]

One ceremony I have heard of was when a Cheif would serve his people horse meat stew from a cauldron which he was in as well to symbolise his uniity with the land and the people. I hope 1) that he let it cool down enough before he got in and 2) He had a bath first.

 

[wolfwood290]

The only horse meat I ever tried was rubbish to be honest, I prefer Beef, Steak etc

 

[keanukenela]

Hmm... seems like any other big animal farm industry by the photos.

 

[marcusw]

Chameleon is banned by jews and christians.

 

[NanaF]

I've eaten horsemeat sausage in France, but not for many years. I liked it, but then I love meat generally.

I had some elk and also some red dear steak in Sweeden the other year, if you like steak, you've gotta try red dear, really sweet and tender.

 

[jmad]

As said by flaming; Chameleon is banned by jews and christians.


Is it? hmmmmmm. I can't remember were it said that in the bible. I thought god made it pretty darn clear when he was talking to peter that humans can pretty much eat every animal on the earth, If he or she desired.

 

[ivorBiggen]

Are you sure it was done with horsemeat. It sounds very similar to a ritual the ancient Irish called the Tarbhfheis. However, they used a bull (sometimes said a white bull) and it would be made into a broth, bones and all. A man would drink of it and bathe in it and sleep in it while the druids invoked a spell over him. When he awoke, he would speak of his dream and from this the druids would choose the new Ard Ri or High King.

I don't know any Christian prohibition on horse meat.
In fact quite the opposite if anything, as St Peter relates in the Bible that he had a vision where God told him he was to eat basically anything he wanted, Peter being reluctant because at the time he still observed the old Jewish laws prohibiting certain foods as "unclean" & and refused three times until chastised by God.

The ancient Celts generally did not eat horse meat.
Many ancient peoples actually had a widespread taboo against it. It makes sense since the horse was such a highly prized animal & was too useful in war (pulling chariots or riding on horseback) to be used merely as a beast of burden or a beast of prey.

 

[jennjennpooh]

Yes I knew that that was done in Ireland with a bull and in western Scotland (some of whose people were "Irish" anyway my ancestors included) but it was done with a horse by the peoples I mentioned, Boar and dolphin were sacred to Picts but I don't know if and when they ate them.

 

[TheGirlFromIpanema]

Christians can eat what the hell they like, there is no religious restriction. A lot of people still observe the old no-red-meat-on-Friday thing, but I was brought up to believe that that rule was ended under Vatican II. (If I'm wrong about that then blame my Dad, not me, OK? )

Muslims can eat any meat except that of carnivores and omnivores, provided that it's Halal. (i.e. the animal is killed in accordance with Muslim dietry law.) So I'm pretty sure that horse is OK.

Under Jewish dietry law, horse is forbidden because it doesn't have a cloven hoof.

About the dietry restrictions of Ancient Britons, there were many local variations depending on which animals were sacred to a particular tribe, or to the gods associated with an area. Additionally, individuals could have specific restrictions placed upon them. For example, Setanta 'Cuchulainn' (whose nickname means the hound of someone-or-other) was personally forbidden to eat the flesh of a dog, but according to legend was tricked into doing so by an enemy, and met his untimely death soon after.

 

[springfairy556]

My understanding of UK archaeology in regard to horses....

Warriors were buried with their horse/s (the more powerful the warrior, the more of his/her favourite horses were killed) and buried, intact, with their owner.

Also, there is growing archaeoligical evidence that old horses that had no further use, were killed and eaten.

Given the average life span of a horse, this was a quite rare event.


I am now a piscatarian.

If I still ate meat...yes...I would eat horse.

 

[augustbmc]

Quote from the general book of ignorance, page 16; "The bible forbids the eating of chameleons."

Venison is my favourite meat.

 

[rmat257]

One of the only things I remember from sunday school is the bit of the bible where Jesus said something like "it is not what goes into a person's body that makes them unclean, it is what comes out (i.e. what they say and do)" - basically saying that, for Christians, there are no dietary rituals - just be nice to people! I think it's from the book of Mark

 

[SidVicious]

Or maybe he just meant don't eat ?

Edit: Why try to circumvent the filter by inserting numbers instead of letters??

 

[princess_cindermela]

Yes, that's correct. The Scots were originally Gaels from Ireland (principally the Dal Riata tribe). In fact, "Scotia" intially referred to Ireland and not Scotland (which was known as Alba). After the Gaels settled in the west, they became differentiated as Scotia Major (Ireland) and Scotia Minor (Scotland) until only Scotland retained the name.


I didn't know that, interesting.

 

[CodyHall]

Cْchullain = Hound of Cullan
After Setanta killed Cullan's dog, he promised to act in place of the dead pet and protect Cullan's cattle until he could raise and train a replacement for him, hence the name.

There are many other examples of such geasas, such as that of Conaire who was forbidden to eat or kill birds (as legend had it that his father was actually a bird deity). There may be some kind of shamanistic motive at work here