Here Piggie Piggie

Growing up I the Mississippi Delta, I've seen and experienced things that these city slicker kids would never dream of.  With the change of each season, a new round of particles would make its way into the air, both provided by nature and man made.

My sinuses would run amok until each season settled down.  One positive out of all that would be that my sinuses would be stopped up in late fall, just in time for hog killing time!  It was kinda neat to experience these rituals without the sense of smell.

The elder black man was in charge of the activity.  A fire would be built with a 55 gallon drum full of water on it.  The Elder would disable the pig so that it would bleed out.  Eventually the pig would be put to sleep permanently.  About this time the 55 gallon barrel full of water would be at a full boil.  The pig would be dipped in for a good soaking.  The women folk would then attack the pig with razor sharp knives, shaving all the hair off the animal.  The hind ankle tendons would be slit to allow a stick to be inserted so that the animal could be hoisted into the air.

The cutters would go to work, opening the stomach cavity and emptying the contents into a wash tip.  The women folk would go to work separating and cleaning the organs for consumption.  This is where the phrase "stump whooped chittlins" came from.

The cleaned pigs would be loaded up in the back of a pickup and taken to the local butcher, where they would be cut up into hams, chops, and ground up into sausage.  All white paper wrapped and labeled for the freezer.  Nothing would go to waste.  My Dad loved to scramble the brains with eggs.  The rest of the head would be made into Brunswick Stew.  That man would eat just about anything, but I've never been able to get him to try Sushi!

This was the way it was back then.  I have since grown up, moved to the city, and rarely have issues with my sinuses.  Every now and then, I reflect back to these life experiences and wish for a second that once again, my sinuses were stopped up!