SC - meat

[Cindy M. Renfrow]

Hello!  I've just been flipping through "Waste Not, Want Not" and came
across this statement by Jennifer Stead in the chapter 'Necessities and
Luxuries: Food Preservation from the Elizabethan to the Georgian Era', p.
75:

"There was no need [in England] to make a variety of dried sausages as, for
instance, were made in north-west Germany where fresh meat was only eaten
on the four killing days in each year. The British were amply supplied
with, and preferred, fresh meat and fresh sausages..."

Is it true that in north-west Germany fresh meat was only eaten on four
days of the year?  During what time period?  For commoners or nobility, or
both? And why, if fresh meat was only eaten on four days of the year, do we
have so many extant German recipes for fresh meat?  When were these
"killing days"?

Inquiring minds want to know...

Cindy