Practical Aspects of Full Blood Sacrifice by Poisoned Spoon

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

The Dark Grocery List and the Blood, Blood and More Blood threads got me thinking that it might be nice to put up some info on butchery/sacrifice and where to find body parts and other sundry things. The "Ask the Meat Man" website (which amuses me about as much as www.massive-cajones.com) is a wealth of info for both educational purposes and as a supply resource. Cow tongues are easy enough to find but some people have have a harder time finding Rocky Mountain Oysters and such. 

I think what I like most are the meat cutting DVDs. I grew up raising, sheering and slaughtering sheep and my Dad showed me how to do just about everything I know about it. But if you grew up in a more urban lifestyle and didn't hunt or do anythign like that ;then I could see somebody not knowing how to go about it. (That and butchery is effing hard!) Check out the deer skinning and gutting DVD, its only $20! And they have posters! They have instructional slaughtering DVDs for most red meat bearing beasts. 

And if you're going to do it then you'll need the right equipment. As romantic as it sounds to use your purty little ritual dagger for this kind of thing... unless your ritual knife also happens to be made for this then you should probably get some gear specifically for it. 

When it comes to where to find appropriate animals I recommend checking your local news paper for livestock auctions or, if you live in a place that supports it, contacting a local farm. I like to look for key words like Organic and Free Range. When I lived in the UK there were an abundance of farms perfect for this and many local farmers had deals where you could pick out an animal for slaughter and buy the whole thing or half. Depending on what you're doing you may need to perform the sacrifice yourself or it may be that it can be performed on your behalf under set circumstances. If you are going to have somebody else do it you may want to look into Kosher or Halal Butchers. Halal more closely resonates with my personal practices but you might be different. 

I can't even begin to imagine the number of traditions, paths and systems everybody here comes from. I can really only authoritively speak from my own so you'll have to interpret around my Roman-ness. The way that I do it there are two and sometimes maybe three ways to perform a sacrifice. I say maybe three because the third way really only differs in the ritual style and not the end result. The first two are the holocaust and the communal meal ways of going about it. If you intend to perform a holocaust sacrifice (which is done primarily for gods and spirits of the underworld) then the butchery aspect doesn't play as big a role. After the initial death and augury the remaining corpse can be immolated or buried as the situation/tradition dictates. If you intend to serve a communal meal (which is usually done with gods and spirits of life), aka a ritual feast then you at least have to know how to gut and skin the beast. 

The absolute most efficient and least time consuming way to prepare a communal meal sacrifice is to skin, gut and spit roast the beast over a large open flame (actually hot coals are better, the fire will dry it out too fast). This cuts down on the amount of time the body is exposed to the air, which minimizes the "corruption" it endures before being consumed. Spit roasting can take forever even with a smaller beast. My Uncle roasts a full pig every year and it turns into an all day affair that begins in the early morning. The larger the beast, the longer it will take and that spit has to be manned the entire time. (This is what assistants are for.) Honestly recipes for communal sacrifice meals are really simple, I use an old Greek recipe that's fairly idiot proof. Baste in butter to keep from drying and rub the whole thing down in an even salt and pepper mixture. You will probably use a whole can of both if the beast is large enough. (These rituals are very expensive which is why my Uncle only does it once per year.) 

Now let's talk about the ritual prep and actual death of the beast. Sacrifices to gods and spirits of life should be pure white and unblemished (that means uninjured, not deformed, sound of mind and clean). The idea behind this is that you want to give your best and not use sacrifice as an excuse to cull the worst from the flock. Other types of spirits may prefer red, yellow or blue which can be done by dyeing something that was once white with food coloring or, if you want to be more traditional, you can use more antiquated dyes like henna. Feast beasts are generally very well fed, exercised, doted upon and cared for. 

Generally speaking the most common way to perform the death act is to slit the beasts throat cleanly and calmly. We do not want any "Three Chop Nicks" out there sawing away at some poor creatures throat because they chose the wrong tool for the job so research this thoroughly and practice on a pinata. (I'm not kidding.) When you have an idea for the type of strength and the angle it takes with a pinata then you can upgrade to a freshly deceased creature or at the very least to actual flesh and fur. (I recommend taking up hunting or something so that you can get some practice doing this. No matter what you do... do not let the animal suffer. Quick, clean and deep.) A friend of mine once suggested putting a cattle prod/blow rod to the head of a feast beast to stun them and cause the removal of any pain they might feel. I haven't looked into this further but it sounds like a reasonable idea if it was accurately explained to me. 

Once the killing slice has gone through the animal must be bled. There is going to be a lot of it so make sure that you have a couple of tarps down, a ritual barrel, some rock salt or something to keep cleanliness in mind. (Tarps only work for smaller animals like chickens.) You will want to have some means of suspending the body upside down for a time once the kill has been made. This will help drain the blood out of the throat. After a few minutes the beast should be laid down upon the floor and gutted. Allow the blood to spill naturally from this so that an augury can be done. (Augury is a whole different thread.) Once the augury has been performed then the appropriate butchery can begin! 

For more information on personal preparation for a communal meal sacrifice I encourage you to turn to your own traditions. Mine involve fasting, ritual bathing, appropriate clothing, prayers, music, etc. The one key thing that I will say is that only the people involved in the ritual and who have prepared to do it should touch the feast beast at any time until the communal meal is served. All other parts, portions not eaten, are customarily immolated and all of it must be consumed or buried during the span of the holiday or occasion this act is a part of. 

~*Spoonness*~