Scottish pork taboo

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The Scottish pork taboo is an interesting, but little known part of Scottish history. It is apparent that there has been some kind of pig farming in Scotland for millenia, but that this particular taboo ran for some centuries. Although currently pork, bacon and ham form a large part of the contemporary Scottish diet, especially in the Scottish breakfast, this appears to have been something which has occurred since the Union of the Crowns in 1603. Ben Jonson recorded that when King James VI went to London to become king of England, that he spurned pig-meat to the surprise of his English hosts.

The Scottish pork taboo also became a subject of anti-Scottish satirical songs in England, such as The Brewer (included in A Collection of Loyal Songs) -

"The Jewish Scots that scorn to eat

The flesh of swine and Brewer's beat

'Twas the sight of this hogshead made 'em retreat

Which nobody can deny!"

The origin of this taboo are particularly unclear, appearing to originate in a poorly recorded era of Scottish history. Although parallels can be drawn with the Mosaic taboos of Judaism and Islam, which according to Freud have in turn ancient Egyptian origins, it appears unlikely that it originates with the Jews in Scotland, as their numbers were few until the early 1800s, by which time the taboo appears to have dissipated. If it comes from the Middle East at all, it is more likely to come via the Christian Bible. The most likely explanation is that it comes from a totemistic taboo, whereby a person, tribe or people were forbidden to eat their totem animal. While the national animal of Scotland is currently the lion rampant (cf also Lord Lyon), this is said to have been introduced by William the Lion and that previously, the national animal was the boar. The boar can be found in a number of ancient carvings such as those at Dunadd.

There is evidence of various tribal totems in Scotland in personal and regional names, such as the cat - Caithness, Clan Chattan, Shetland ("Na h-Innse Cait" in Irish annals), and the seal - selkies, Clan MacCodrum, the bear Mathieson (mathan is a bear[link]), the wolf (faol-chù) - St Fillan (Faolan - little wolf) [link] and so on, but that of the pig/boar is not always so forthcoming. The Orkney islands' root is apparently cognate with "pork", but this may not refer in fact to pigs, but to whales, known as mere-swine or muc-mhara, traditionally.

Parallel taboos in Scottish and European societies

The Scots are not the only people in Europe to traditionally have a taboo on the eating of the flesh of certain animals: their neighbours, the English are said to have anciently disdained goose flesh (later to become a pre-turkey Christmas staple), and the Romany will not eat horse meat. Also it is notable that while the eating of horse meat is common in Continental Europe, particularly France, it is virtually unknown in English speaking countries - and the English language has no widely used term for horse meat, as opposed to three for pig meat (pork, bacon, ham), sheep meat (mutton), cow meat (beef) etc, despite horses being bred in England, since pre-Roman times. Roman sources state that Epona was widely worshipped in Gaul and southern Britain; the Uffington White Horse is also an ancient figure. Most Westerners will not eat carnivores or scavengers, mainly for hygiene reasons, or indeed pets for sentimental reasons, although in various parts of the world, dogs are eaten. Many coastal Scots would also once have eaten whale meat on a daily basis, but this is unknown now, due partly to the constrictions on whaling.

References

The Scottish Pork Taboo in The Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, vol. 66; article by Donald A. MacKenzie; April 1923
Freud, Sigmund - Totem and Taboo
A Collection of Loyal Songs

Scottish pork taboo

Parallel taboos in Scottish and European societies

References

See also