Things have been pretty hectic this autumn for Cúl Dara Consultancy, and so our last newsletter – we believe very much worth a read, still – was published last July! We hope to return to our usual monthly frequency from January, and thank our readers for their patience.

Meat is central to human celebrations

With Thanksgiving just in the rearview mirror and Christmas only days away, it is time to remind ourselves just how, throughout history, food has played a core role in human celebrations, both as sustenance and as symbol. Among foods, meat holds a particularly significant place, especially in religious and cultural observances. From ancient sacrificial rites to modern-day feasts, meat often serves as the centrepiece of ceremonies that bring people together, commemorating important events and connecting the physical with the spiritual. Meat has had a persistent cultural, symbolic, and religious importance in human celebrations, and its role has endured across eras and geographies.

Meat highly valued from pre-historic times

In hunter gatherer societies, hunters had to run after, catch and kill prey to supply meat, expending significant energy and human resources – sometimes even lives – in the process. The nutritional value of the product, and almost certainly, also, its deliciousness to the early human palate, made that resource expenditure worthwhile. While early man did not have qualifications in nutrition, they surely understood from experience that a feed of meat was more satiating than a feed of grain or fruit.

Meat in ancient religious rituals

The association between meat and religious celebration goes all the way back to ancient civilisations, and animal sacrifices. Across cultures, sacrificing a valuable animal was seen as a fitting offering to deities, a gesture of gratitude, submission, or a means of ingratiation.

In ancient Greece, for example, rituals often included the slaughter of bulls, sheep, goats or pigs. Animal sacrifices were described in Homer’s writings, and quoted in this Oxford Reference article. A portion of the meat was burned as an offering to the gods, while the remaining parts were boiled, distributed equally among the community, with a feast at the site of the sacrifice the norm, creating a divine and human connection.

In ancient Hebraic traditions, sacrificed animals and/or grain were cooked/burned. Biblical texts suggested that God received the smoke of the cooking or burning sacrifice as a “pleasing odour”, and so both humans and God were sharing or communing in the meal. The Bible provides instructions for various types of animal or grain sacrifices, to reflect the end being pursued – purification, assuaging guilt, ingratiation – as well as the relative wealth of the offerer – a full animal or a small bag of grain.

Symbolism of meat in religious celebrations

Meat often carries deep symbolic meaning in religious contexts, representing divine blessings, abundance, or redemption. For instance, in Christianity, the consumption of lamb during Easter has its roots in the Jewish Passover, where the lamb represents deliverance and salvation. The “Lamb of God” metaphor, used to describe Jesus Christ, underscores the profound link between meat and themes of sacrifice and redemption.

Abstinence from meat on Fridays from early Christian times was a reference to the crucifixion of Christ on Good Friday and provided by Catholic canon law. In more recent times, the Catholic churches around the western world at least have provided that outside of Fridays during Lent, some other form of abstinence is acceptable. Interestingly, fish is not considered flesh, and so as well as dairy products and eggs, it is acceptable under canon law to eat fish on Fridays.

In Islam, the annual festival of Eid al-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice) – not to be confused with Eid al Fitr, at the end of the Ramadan fast – centres around the ritual slaughter of livestock, typically sheep, goats, or cows, and is linked to the Hajj pilgrimage. This act commemorates the story of Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son in obedience to God. The meat from the sacrificed animals is divided into three parts: one for the family, one for friends and neighbours, and one for the poor, emphasizing the themes of sharing, community, and compassion.

Similarly, in Judaism, the Passover meal, or Seder, includes different foods, to represent different aspects of the story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. It includes a roasted lamb shank bone, to represent the sacrifices made during the Exodus from Egypt. Though the consumption of the lamb itself is no longer practiced, its representation underscores the historical and spiritual significance of meat in religious observance.

Meat in communal celebrations

Its historical symbolic and sacrificial roles explain at least in part why meat is also central to communal celebrations. Across cultures, the preparation and sharing of meat are acts that bring people together, reinforcing social bonds and collective identity.

For instance, in many African cultures, meat is central to communal celebrations like weddings, funerals, and initiation ceremonies. The slaughter of livestock is often a communal event, with the animal’s meat distributed among attendees as a sign of hospitality and respect. Similarly, in Polynesian traditions, communal feasts often feature roasted pigs, symbolizing abundance and unity.

I remember as a child in Southwest France participating in the “pèle porc” on very cold January days. Many of our neighbours in our village raised a few pigs for their family, neighbours and friends. Every year, the local community gathered to kill, prepare and butcher the few pigs. This was always a celebration of friendship and community, with much food and wine consumed. But it also involved a lot of work, undertaken communally, in making sausages, blood pudding, pâté, ham, and other cuts of meat for the freezer. I remember those events as joyful, celebratory gatherings, with every bit of the pig bar the squeal utilised!

And of course, in our Western cultures, festive meals like Christmas dinners often revolve around meat, like turkey and ham – though I believe, it is carp (still animal flesh!) in Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe.

For a semi-scientific tour of Europe’s Christmas feast traditions, which suggests all have meat or fish as their centrepiece, check out this list in “Europe is not dead”. These traditions reinforce the association of meat/animal flesh with abundance and festivity, and its essential status in human celebrations.

Ultimately, meat is at the core of many special occasion meals in most parts of the world. And while there clearly are religious, historical and traditional reasons for this, there is also the fact that most societies have found all manners of recipes to make meat a delicious part of joyous or otherwise meaningful human celebrations.

As the joke has it “Meat is murder. Tasty, tasty murder”!

Shifting perspectives…

While meat continues to be a focal point of many religious and cultural celebrations, and the centrepiece of many meaningful meals, perspectives are shifting with health, environmental and animal welfare concerns coming to the fore. Many individuals are reevaluating the role of meat in their traditions, their diets and their lives.

With the increasing prevalence of obesity and cardiovascular disease among humankind, the healthy eating advice is clear: eat more fruit, vegetables, legumes and grains, and less meat.

Animal welfare considerations, including concerns over the belief of sentience in animals among many humans, are also influencing the type of meat consumed, or even for hard core vegan activists, whether meat or other animal food should be consumed at all.

Concerns over the environmental impact of livestock from greenhouse gas emissions, land use – not all of which well founded – are also leading many to rethink the frequency and quantity of meat they eat – for example, with the Meat Free Monday movement, which suggests that “One day a week can make a world of difference”.

…but meat is here to stay

Meat has been at the heart of human celebrations for millennia, satisfying physical sustenance and acting as powerful symbol in religious and cultural traditions. From ancient sacrifices to contemporary commemorative or celebratory feasts, it represents abundance, sacrifice, and community, bridging the sacred and the secular. It is the centre of the pleasurable experience of a meal shared with family, friends and community.

While modern considerations around ethics and sustainability may influence how meat is viewed in certain contexts, its historical and cultural significance remains deeply ingrained in the human story. As societies continue to evolve, the role of meat in celebrations will adapt, but as a cornerstone of human and spiritual connection, its central role is unlikely to fade.

So, whether you are about to tuck into your turkey and ham, or your nut roast, I wish you a very happy, peaceful and delicious Christmas surrounded by your loved ones!

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