Fashion spread like a cultural fixation, turning into a deluge of ideology and politics, covering, dominating, polluting. Namely, that the Romanian poet (actually a peasant) created (peasant) culture mainly as a shepherd. Or, please, pastor/pastor/pastori/pastorem/pastores/pastorum/pastoribus (etc.). Not farming (from unfairly to humiliatingly equated with settlement), not gardening, not farming, not hunting, fishing, forestry, not mining, pottery or carpentry, not fallen and sudden shelter from criminal raids and vandals, not service to various lords/boyars/ petty bourgeois, nor the struggle with the Turks, and especially in various forms of battle or mercenary for obtaining a palm of land, are not counted as compensation, no, etc., etc. such (walked, grazed, milked, curdled, slept like a rabbit, tamed wolves/bears, starved, drank cognac), as well as the scale of migration, and even emigration, swarming, fleeing with herds and all (renamed by patriotic heirs to “peaceful conquest ” because it was completed by settlement ba through the Pindus and Caucasus ba through the Slovak and Polish Carpathians), Basque flute playing/cimpoi/bucium, all these will become culture. More precisely, the original and fundamental culture of all Vlachs and Romanians (+ Vlachs, Armenians, Istro-Romanians, Megleno-Romanians) everywhere.

On the one hand, especially with a poetic vein, the one that started from the Domior hills of the Mircesti estate, where the great bard-educator, revolutionary, pashoptist and apothecary Vasile Alexandri started the first great national campaign of hunting ballads and idylls, doine and lacrimoare (which, until things, never ended, lasting forever)… And then, through people like Odobescu, Vlahuce, Slavici, Sadovianu and starting with the already specialized scientists O. Densuchianu and D. Karakost… as if due to the populism of Mr. Yorga, sowing and selective peasantry (equally populist-pedagogical and royal-court)… Well, because of all these (and many other reasons and characters, of course) epic and lyrics. of pastoral origin or with pastoral suggestions, but also the majority of calendar-peasant rites (despite the obvious agricultural affiliation of many), one way or another contributed to the elevation of this pedestal, battle hymn, chosen coat of arms and flagpole. New Romanian Miorite (and that’s all), ideally Codren outlaw, the rest of its cultural resonances are so complex that for many people remain obsessed with the same label of (pan)pastoralism, nostalgic, romantic and ultra-national bucolicism.

Interestingly, however, the veneration of pastoralism was concentrated/limited to species of sheep, in this sense Eve, accordingly, myoritism and especially cyclopedic-academic myoritology played a fascinating, obsessive role. The cow (+ox & calf), the buffalo, the goat (+/– the goat/calf), the hen (! to hump ≠ hump, although this verb has quite a lot of attention in customary history and applied ethnopsychology), the dog, a cat, rabbits, geese, but especially a pig… All these animals were left at the mercy of family occupation and household, unworthy standard, professionalism and especially any nationalistic, cultural and ethno-psychological commotion. And in this sense, I say, a great scientific injustice was committed. (Perhaps he put a handkerchief over this anti-musical and thundering drum, or maybe he put a Persian mat over this honorable “garbage”, so as not to offend the feelings of those who, however minority they may be and really are, consider pork haram? Unpretentious political politeness to no one andsoar any letters?)

The fact is that much has been ignored. Like, for example, the fact that Orthodox Romanians (i.e. the ultra-majority) have never been big (or average) consumers of sheep/goat/kids, nor beef/bull/buffalo/calves, horse/mare/foal/donkey doesn’t speak (or maybe just completely forgets). Even until today’s proud or boring days/nights and weeks/months, only the pig remained the most preferred and expensive for Romanians. It is even put forward by all the cunning folk tastes as an ideal replacement for any other source of protein, even vegetables, fruits, greens.

In ancient times, serious herds of sheep and goats occupied relatively limited areas, mainly foothills and mountains, large herds more covered the needs/needs of trade, export and especially foreign, relatively foreign and extremely foreign tribute. Just like the cow, sheep were raised and are raised mainly for milk/cheese (the latter and for such familiar and irreplaceable, once long ago, wool, respectively, tanned skin or open fur, for national winter uniforms, which in the country are called cojoc, alendelon in town). The sacrifice of the lamb is closely connected only with the Easter holiday, Christmas cannot be imagined without a piglet/pig/sow, cleaned of skin, bones and cut as much as possible. But during the earthly year, all these types of pigs (along with chicken/chicken/rooster/hen/goose, sometimes including pigeon or almost any other flying bird that could be caught in a trap/cage) characterize the antidiet and current food of the native .

The details and arguments would be too numerous and fanciful, the arguments on both possible sides and the heavy immersion in the details might drag on, but this is not the place for a real, correct, enduring process. The idea is that, preserved or not, a prestigious building endowed with the ethnographic and folkloristic courage of a shepherd or a shepherd should make room for revenge and other aspects of traditional economy, regional empirical craft, but above all, allow the illumination of unexplored cultural their consequences. Among other things, the pig must be avenged. And do not forget to rush to praise and flatter with words that are sometimes so easy to use (His majesty, Pig!..), because the poor animal, no matter how docile, easy to raise, therefore cheap, but generous in terms of nutrition, cannot be separated from its very modest psychophysiological topography of banal/ordinary pig, lazy/sleepy, sickly/smelly, unwashed . /muddy. However, let’s continue not to show him a little more appreciation (a companion as important to a Romanian’s fence or yard as a puppy), I don’t think it’s fair or possible.

Place-ne au ba, the spindle-shaped pig, and it is even more a brother to the Romanians than the woodpecker or the horse, except the latter, no other animal (compared to the pig, the ox, the donkey) is more often mentioned or associated with the character of man . In the sense of gossip or cursing, a local, a neighbor, a politician, a corrupt person, even a husband, a concubine, or a friend, sometimes annoying, unfaithful, or disappointing, is never identified otherwise than the eloquent, radical, and so frequent noun common pig (In the latter sense, see also so clever developed confession from https://www.lapunkt.ro/2023/03/memoriile-unei-maseuze/ .)

After all, Christians to the core, how are we, or at least we pretend to be, until we remain so callous and petty as not to admit that even a pig has some holiness in it? Even for the simple fact that if mad cow disease had not had time to settle in the national stables, not even ten sheep would have heard the white medical coats and coveralls of the fenced slaughterhouse or the emergency crematorium, while swine fever still haunts us and the death thunders of all acaretres, forcing us to kill thousands and tens and hundreds of thousands of innocent pigs, is it not appropriate to consider it pious that the pig itself has become the real scapegoat, that this sanogenic slaughter is itself a holy and pure sacrifice, a pure washing away of hidden sins, especially because that it is done on the scale of parties, which are an awful lot more massive and for nothing than what happens to the lambs?… I would say that yes, it is the time and It was expected that this good and humble feeling would ignite at least in the souls of modern Dacomans and Dacopaths, those who, believing that our ancient ancestors must have had a perfect pro-Christian flair, go so far as to collapse. a wolf with the body/tail of a dragon right on the holy cross, possibly even worshiping this satanic devil-like idol. Blasphemy! Would it not be better and more expedient for them to raise, like a mosaic cross, a Greek cross or a cross of St. Andrew, the often sacrificed pig of the family, neighbors and farm, butchered and roasted on a bonfire only with duium and only for the good of our mouths and burdikhans?

In order to radically revise the value, importance and cultural intimacy of pig farming, a pioneering step forward, interesting and methodical, can be found in the book by Constantin Barbulescu from Cluj called From a pig. Essay on human relations–an animal in a Transylvanian village (Cluj-Napoca, ed. Mega, 2018). In which, finally, someone/man, here he is, has taken it upon himself to see with respectful and honest eyes, as a professional anthropologist and sociologist, the real story of the coexistence of man and pig/sow in the economic environment of the village. It is also true that he experienced the experience of aging even at his own expense (and at the expense of his personal woman), working like a slave on the property of the estate around his country house, until the exhausting self-exploitation (+ wife) that put an end to this great adventure The co-author does not tell how he raised his pig(s) in his own yard or even how he would butcher it (if he did it himself). But he tactfully interviewed citizens about absolutely all facts and views related to the domestic economy of growing, slaughtering, canning and eating food products from pigs, only biographies of individual animals and oral histories/discussions/interviews even with poor animals were missing. . I’m not saying this to be cool, because today you can do things that were undreamed of, not allowed or scandalous 3-4 decades ago in the restricted Romanian academic culture of that time. (By the way: the textbook I mentioned lacks only stories, snowballs and benches with pigs/pigs/pigs, and real shit, the latter definitely more juicy to the ears and speech than bloody candy and melt-in-the-mouth goo.) I say that because between yesterday and the day before yesterday, and hopefully beyond, gap removal and hop recovery and bold leaps to figure out all kinds of niches are welcome and possible. (Inshallah!) – continue reading the article on Contributors.ro