PORK BUTCHER
An ancient profession
As I have already told in the past, my grandfather was a pork butcher and so was my dad. The pork butcher in italian is call Norcino.
But what is a Norcino?
By reading these lines you will find out.
Let’s go!
THE SLAUGHTER OF THE PIG
The history of the pig proceeds in parallel with that of man.
Homer in the Odyssey, for the first time in human history, describes a meal based exclusively on pork.
Among other things, it seems that the term pig, in italian "maiale", derives from the name of Maia, daughter of Atlas, goddess loved by Zeus and mother of Mercury, who among the ancient Romans personified the awakening of nature and was a symbol of abundance.
A porcus pinguis (also called sus maialis), a large pig, was sacrificed to it every year.
Hence, given the analogy with the symbol of abundance, in the 18th century, the tradition of pig-shaped piggy banks was born, used by children and adults to store their savings.
Until the advent of the industrial era, pig slaughter was performed by an expert. In Italian this figure is called "norcino". In the Parma area, the traditional term is "masén". This term indicates the person who went to the family farms to oversee the slaughter of the family pig and the processing of its meat. This traditional process is called "the day of the pig". You can read the article about the day of the pig by clicking here.
This profession, at the time, was held in great esteem and took its name from the town of Norcia, in Umbria, from which, originally, these professionals left, during the winter season, to go to the various areas of Italy to carry out the their work.
The butchery's activities took place exclusively in the cold season, generally, in the period of time between November and February.
Every day was good for work, with the exception of January 17th, the feast of Saint Anthony the Abbot, protector of pigs and pets.
The cult of which in our countryside is still alive today as, for example, in Ponti sul Mincio in the northernmost area of the province of Mantua where the parish church is dedicated to the aforementioned saint and which on the day of his anniversary sees the farmers of the area bring a representation of their animals to receive the blessing from the parish priest in the main square of the town.
THE TRADITIONAL ITALIAN PORK BUTCHER
Wearing a long and heavy dark cloak, and with the bag with the work tools slung over his shoulder, he went, as mentioned, to the hearth of the peasant family who had called him.
His tools of the trade consisted of a stiletto (called coradòr in Parmesan dialect), a cleaver, various knives, scrapers and hooks.
The killing of the pig took place by exsanguination by cutting the jugular or with a quick stab to the heart so that the animal died quickly, limiting the suffering for it as much as possible.
Other tools, such as the harpoon to catch the pig, the crescent, the funnels and the later meat grinder-bagging machine to pack salami, could belong to the itinerant butcher who moved from farm to farm or be found locally.
While each farmhouse provided its own furnace to heat the copper pots containing the water needed for skinning the pig and the gallows to which the skinned animal was hung to open it and cut it into halves.
CONCLUSION
I hope you enjoyed this journey into the good old days to discover the profession of traditional italian pork butcher.
I wait for you to read the next post!
Ciao and Bye Bye,
Mamma Rosa
