[Sca-cooks] RE: Re:Cannibalism

[kingstaste at mindspring.com]

<snip>

The Eucharist is not simply a Christian phenomenon, either- The Romans and
Greeks had their gods who were dismembered and eaten by worshippers-
Dionysius comes readily to mind, as do many other less-known myths, where a
god was torn apart and consumed by his followers. As far as I can tell, it's
a natural progression through the maturing of a people- food gives strength,
eating special foods give special strength, special foods give the strength
of the eaten to the eater (that's where you have people eating lion's hearts
and so forth, for courage), the modern, primitive cannibals who eat their
enemies, doing so, in hopes of acquiring their enemy's prowess, and, as you
become more modern, and civilization makes eating real people a taboo, you
get symbolic cannibalism of various sorts, where instead of partaking of
earthly strength, you eat special foods in order to acquire Godhood.
<snip>

Saint Phlip


Ok, I haven't been following this thread (got pretty tired of it while it
was still Rotten Meat), but the cannibalism change caught my attention, and
then Phlip's examples here brought something to mind I heard last week on
NPR.  There is a nasty virus going around in Africa right now, (can't
remember the name of it), that they are having a hard time containing.  An
interview with a doctor in the area had a particularly gut-wrenching
portion, when she talked about the local burial practices being a large part
of the problem.  Evidently the country folk wash the dead as part of burial
preparations, and then the whole family gathers together and drinks the
water the body was bathed in.  (Makes me gag a bit just to type it in).  I
was reminded of the Sin Eaters practices, and the examples above also seem
to fit in with this ideology as well.
Hope you'd finished eating dinner before you read this :)
Christianna