The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-01-05
FOOD SUPERSTITIONS
NEARLY EVERYTHING WORTH EAT
ING WAS ONE TINE TABOOED.
For One Reason and Another Fruits,
Meats and Vegetables Have Been
I'm Forbidden Articles.
. J. Vance. in New York Post.

III a recent issue OF the Evening POST the
writer noted some superstitions about
bread. Not less curious and interesting is
the folklore which has clustered around
the various articles of food.
From the days of Adam and Eve to the
present time there has been not only for
hidden fruit, but forbidden meats and veg
etables. For one reason or another peo-
pie have resolutely refused TO eat any and
all kinds Of flesh. fish. fowl fruits and
plants Thus. the apple, the pear, the
strawberry, the ounce, the bean, the onion,
the leek, the asparagus. the woodpecker,
the pigeon, the goose. the deer, the bear,
the turtle. and the eel-these. TO name only
a few eatables, have been avoided as if
unwholesome or positively injurious to
health and digestion.
AS we all know, the Jews have long had
an hereditary antipathy to pork. On the
other hand, swines flesh was highly es-
teemed by the ancient Greeks and Romans.
This fact is revealed by many references to
pig as a dainty bit of food. At the great
festival held annually in honor OF Demeter,
roast pig was the piece de resistance in the
bill Of fare, because the pig was the sacred
animal OF Demeter Aristophanes, in 1.-The
Frogs" makes one of the characters hint
that some of the others ''smeli of roast
pig" These people undoubtedly had been
at the festival known as the Thesmophoria)
and had eaten freely OF roast pig. Those
who took part in another Greek mystery
or festival (inown as the Eleusinia) alb
stained from certain food, and above all
from beans.
Again, as we all know, mice are esteemed
in China and In some parts OF India But
the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Jews abb
horred mice and would not touch mouse
meat. Rats and field mice were sacred in
old Egypt, and were not to be eaten on this
account So. too. in some parts Of Greece,
he mouse was the sacred animal of Apollo,
and mice were fed in. his temples. The
chosen people were forbidden TO eat 1.-THE
weasel and the mouse, and the tortoise
after his kind" These came under the
designation OF unclean animals, which were
10 be avoided.
But people have abstained from eating
kinds of flesh which could not be called un-
clean. For example, the people OF Thebes,
as Herodotus tells us, abStained from sheep.
What Is the matter with mutton chops
Then, the ancients used to abstain from
certain vegetables. Indeed, the Romans
sneered at those Egyptians who did not
dare to eat onions. leeks or garlic. And yet
the Romans themselves were superstitious
about what they ate, or what they should
avoid eating.
PLUTARCH'S QUERY.
In his Roman Questions" Plutarch asks:
"why do the Latins abstain strictly from
the flesh Of the woodpecker?" In order to
answer Plutarch's question correctly it is
necessary to have some idea of the peculiar
custom and belief called "totemism." There
is stage of society in which people claim
descent from and llinship with beasts, birds.
vegetables and other objects. This object,
which is a totem" or family mark. they
religiously abstain from eating. The men,
bers of the tribe are divided into clans or
ooI Of a
some animal, plant or object, as the bear,
the buffalo. the woodpecker. the asparagus
and so forth No member of the bear fam
lily would dare to eat bear meat, but he
has no objection to eating buffalo steak.
Even the marriage law is based on this
belief, and no man whose family name is
Wolf may marry woman whose family
name is also Wolf.
In q general way it may be said that al
most all our food prohibitions spring from
totemism Mr.. Swan, who was a mission
airy for many years in the Congo Free
were to ask the Yeke people why they do
not eat zebra flesh. they would reply,
'chijila,' |. e., Tt is thing to when we
have an antipathy;' or better, III is one OF
to eat" So 1t seems the word "Bashi-
lang means "the people who have an anti.
patty TO the leopard" the 'Bashilamba,' =
a Inps tbe wnG Rashiianzefu. Those who have
an antipathy to the elephant" In other
words. the members Of these stocks refuse
to eat their totems, the zebra, the leopard,
or the elephant, from which they take
The survival of antipathy to certain foods
was found among people as sisny f fnn Ra
mans. Quite a list of animals whose flesh
was forbidden might be drawn up. For ex-
ample, in old Egypt the sheep could sIou no not
nor the cat in Bubastis, nor the crocodile
at Ombos nor the rat, which was sacred to
Ra, the sun god. However, the people OF
one place had no scruples about eating the
forbidden food of another place. And this
often led to religious disputes and bad
blood
Among the vegetables tabooed as food by
the Egyptians may be mentioned the onion,
the garlic. and the leek. Lucian says that
the inhabitants Of Potassium adored the
1se9 TO A swear by the ieek and the onion,
Juvenal pokes fun at those who thought 1t
a sin to eat them. He exclaims: Surely
very religious nation and blessed peace;
where every garden Is overrun with gods.
The survivals OF totemism among the an
Client Greeks are very interesting. Families
named after animals and plants were not
uncommon. One Athenian gems, the lox-
idae had for its ancestral plant the aspara-
gus. We may be sure that this plant was
tabooed as food to every man, woman and
child OF the Ioxidae.
ROMAN RITES.
pecker for it's token, and every member of
this family refused. of course, to eat the
flesh OF the woodpecker In the same way as
the nations Of the Congo Free State, the
Latins had an antipathy to certain kinds
Of food. However, IN animal or plant for
hidden in one place was eaten without any
conjunction in another place. These local
rites in Roman times" says Mr.. Lang.
caused civil brawls, for the customs OF one
town naturally seemed blasphemous to
ne!ghbors with different sacred animal.
Thus when the people Of dogtown were
feeding on the fish called oxyrrhtncus, the
citizens of the town which revered the OK
yrrhyncus began to eat dogs Hence rose a
riot" The antipathy OF the Jews TO pork has
given rise TO quite different explanations.
The custom is probably a relic OF totemistic
belief That the unclean animals-animals
not to be eaten-such as the pig, the mouse,
and the weasel, Were originally totems OF
the children of Israel, Prof. Robertson
Smith believes is shown by various pas
sages in the Old Testament.
When animals and plants ceased to be
held sacred, they were endowed with sundry
magical or mystic properties. The apple
has been supposed to possess peculiar yir-
tues. especially in the way of health. 1.-The
relation of the apple TO health" says Mr..
Conway sis traceable to Arabia. Some
times IL is regarded as a bane. In Hessia IL
is said that an apple must not be eaten on
New Years day, as IL Will produce an abb
erania IL is eaten on Easter morning
against fevers: in Westphalia (mixed with
saffron) against jaundice; while in SileSia
an apple is scraped from top TO stalk 10
cure diarrhoea, and upwards TO cure CO.'S
.rnrl3nc 70 an old English fancy IL any