Re: Beautiful as a cow (was RE: Devore's Happy Stickpickers)

From: bjm10_at_...
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2000 17:17:03 -0500 (EST)

On Thu, 17 Feb 2000, Martin Crim wrote:

> I'm sure that "cow-eyed" is a great compliment among the Orlanthi.

Actually, my wife is fairly cow-eyed. She has had men ten years her junior follow her about (until they realize that the hairball with a permanent scowl is attached to her in some fashion--I look much grumpier than I actually am...)

> Anyone have thoughts as to the proper way to sacrifice a cow? Do you burn
> it? ("We can burn her, bury her, or dump her." "Dump her?!" "Dump her in
> the Thames." "What?!" "Oh, did you like her?" "Yes!" "Well, we won't
> dump her then." --Monty Python, the Undertaker Sketch) I'm thinking that
> burning is out when you're fixing to rush the enemy battle line, so
> probably a quick knife to the throat?

Cut open the throat and spill the blood upon the earth for a quick sacrifice. For a full-fledged sacrifice, this should be followed by proper butchery and a holocaust, in which the bones and "glistening fat" are offered to the deity in question. The meat is prepared as a feast for the participants (laity and priestly). This is how both the Greeks and Hebrews did their animal sacrifices. Among the Greeks, it was because Prometheus tricked Zeus by making the bones and fat look nice but tossing a bit of dirt onto the meat before asking him which part he wanted. Among the Hebrews it is because God is more pleased by the act of sacrifice than necessarily by the substance. Since He need not eat, the pleasing aroma of the sacrifice (which tells Him what has happened) is sufficient. The people may then feast.

Thus, for the Greeks, while every sacrifice was an honor to the gods, it was also an "in-your-face" act of derision against them.

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