| What you'll see in these pages are graphic pictures of animal slaughter. For these farmers, this is a way of life -- the circle starts again.
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| Statement: | We are story-telling photo-documentarians. We provide these images as part of our work to illuminate the millennia old traditions of landed peasants. Dealing with life, death and suffering, as these images do, they are likely to stir strong emotions in our viewers. Before judging their lives or our intentions, we invite you to explore these more thoroughly at our Romania Site. |
December means time to harvest the pigs |
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December 1999:
They treat their animals with care until the day they're ready to dispatch them.
On that day, they tie the pig's leg across its chest and lug it along, keeping it off balance.
At this point, the pig realizes it's in mortal danger, and those who have fed it all its life are now its enemies.
But its howling squeals garner it no pity. Three men struggle to attach a second cord and pull its legs back to expose its throat.
One puncture begins an inexorable flood of blood, and death comes after a minute of unanswered trumpeting calls for help.
It makes a sound like a dying dinosaur.
This pig almost broke free of its bonds, giving everyone a fright, and granting these men a higher feeling of accomplishment when it was dead.
Once they wash up, it becomes a two person job; two men disappear and the woman of the house takes over helping Petru.
To clean the hair off the pig, they cover it with hay,
and set it on fire.
They repeat this burning several times, scraping the hair off after each burn.
Petru rests for a moment, tuica in hand.
They drag the pig away from its blood.
Chickens take advantage of some windfall nutrition.
The pig's eye comes out to help drain out its blood, and is tossed away onto the ground.
After a few fires, they peel off the hooves and throw them on the ground.
Its ears have been heated so much they're now cooked.
It's considered a treat.
A stiff brush scrubs away the burnt skin and hair. It's the only way to get it clean.
Everyone uses a door for their butchering tasks.
This pig is 240 kilos (530 pounds) and it took five people to lift it onto the butchering table.
They keep washing out its blood.
Here is the third flushing.
First to come off are the legs, torn off sort of like pruning branches -- cut and peel.
Their next priority is to get the head off because it requires the most boiling before making it into sausage.
Marioara's mother died seven weeks ago, so in her forties, she's learning how to butcher a pig for the first time. Petru, her neighbor, is passing on his time honored wisdom.
They strain to crack open the skull.
It splits open faster with a hatchet.
With the head gone, they move on to slitting the hide, ...
... and ripping off the fat.
Marioara carries off the fatback, which they call 'Slanina.' Once it's smoked, it forms a staple part of their year-round diet.
The intestines are piled into a plastic lined basket.
This is the point where things began to really smell.
Organs come out and go into the soup.
The spine comes off of an ever-shrinking pile of flesh.
They work stoically through freezing temperatures. It was two hours before Marioara complained her hands were cold.
A pigs bladder holds about two liters of urine (half a gallon.)
They tie off one end of the bladder to keep the toxic contents inside.
Marioara uses the urine from the other end of the bladder to help wash the stones free of the blood.
Go see how they prepare the meat
Back to Slaughter Page
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