The pig slaughter in A Limia

Pigs were fattened all year so that the cured meat could feed the family for almost the whole year. The matanza (slaughter) was an important ritual held mainly in December, January and February, when the hard frosts arrive ^[1].

The preparations

Relatives and neighbours were told, because it is a lot of work and many hands are needed. The day before, the pig was not fed, so that its gut would be cleaner, and the attendance of the parish matachín, the man in charge of killing it, was confirmed ^[1].

The day of the slaughter

First thing in the morning: the family, the neighbours and the matachín with his sharpened bleeding knife had a snack of aguardiente, sponge cake or biscuits, set up the cart or the bench and the work began. Getting the pig out of the pen was not easy, because it did not want to leave, frightened by the commotion. Four or five men held it down and laid it on the bench or cart, tying it well so that it could not kick or bite. The matachín drove the knife between the throat and the heart so that it died quickly and bled out, and one of the women collected the blood in a pot or cauldron, stirring it so it would not clot, to make filloas ^[1].

Singeing, cleaning and hanging

Then it was singed with a torch of burning straw, beating it to burn off the hair and the first skin (today it is done with a gas blowtorch); it was scraped with a knife or stone and plenty of water until white, and the trotters were given more fire to pull them off. The droppings were cleaned from the gut with bundles of straw and it was plugged, the skin of the belly was opened and the pig hung head down by the bone between the hind legs; the jowl was cut to remove the offal and the belly ^[1].

The belly was opened from top to bottom and out came the intestines, the bladder, the liver, the stomach, the heart, the kidneys and the spleen. Water is poured inside and it is left hanging to cool in the night frost ^[1].

The first meal

Meanwhile, the women separated the thick intestines from the thin ones, which would be used for the chorizos, and took them to the river to wash them. With the offal, the skins and other cuts the first meal of the slaughter was prepared, at which participants and guests ate with good wine and local liqueurs ^[1].

The next day

It was another day of intense work with the butchering: salting hams and bacon and chopping the meat to fill the chorizos. Afterwards the chorizos and blood sausages were hung over the hearth to cure and smoke, and it was a matter of waiting a few days until they were ready to taste ^[1].

Links

• Gastronomy of A Limia
• Xinzo’s ovens and the bread cycle
• Xinzo de Limia

Sources

1. Edelmiro Martínez Cerredelo, «A matanza do porco», Historia de Xinzo, 10/12/2016 (fotos da familia Martínez González). https://historiadexinzo.wordpress.com/2016/12/10/a-matanza-do-porco/