SC - feasting and religion (longish)
david friedman
ddfr at best.com
Fri Mar 2 11:22:21 PST 2001
>As to appropriate behaviour when confronted with an array of food
>which your persona can't eat, most of the mundane people here who
>encounter the same problem tend to sit in a corner toying with a
>glass of water and looking miserable and apologetic. Admittedly we
>pay for feasts, but that is to cover the food costs the SCA can't
>bear. When we get to the feast, as a rule, we behave as though we
>are the guests of whoever is giving the feast, and we can't throw a
>tantrum about not being provided for if we are a guest.
We can't throw a tantrum, but we can make casual remarks designed to
reflect our persona's attitudes. When I am being Cariadoc I sometimes
ask whether a dish contains any unclean meat. If asked to explain, I
sometimes respond that Muslims are not permitted pork or manflesh.
There was actually a widely reported incident of mass cannibalism by
a crusader army at about Cariadoc's time (whether it happened I don't
know, but it was reported by sources on both sides), leading to the
view that Franks, or at least some Franks, were cannibals.
>There is also another side to religion and feasting, which I hadn't
>anticipated: a friend of ours from Gaza (the one we visited the
>weekend before the Intifada struck) came to dinner and was
>uncomfortable with looking at our hands. The reason? Apparently
>Muslims don't eat with their left hand, because in the Koran it says
>this is the way you can tell demons - they do use their left hand
>for food.
That's one of the things I do to remind myself that I am Cariadoc
rather than David--eat only with my right hand. Once in a while I
find myself doing the same thing in a mundane context that involves
eating with the hands, such as an Indian restaurant.
I don't know whether the explanation you give is correct or not; I
haven't seen it before. I had assumed it reflected sanitary
considerations. In a society where water is often scarce, using one
hand for eating and another for all unclean purposes makes a good
deal of sense.
- --
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/
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