Why do we eat ham at Easter?

[MineralMan]

Think about it, and discuss..

[sheshe2]

1. We don't.

We eat lamb.

[hlthe2b]

2. Always found it peculiar given that Jesus was Jewish, but being no theologian...

AT ALL... Obviously, those tenets never transferrred...

[MineralMan]

30. We eat it because Jews can't.

We just don't remember the anti-semetism any longer. But that's what started the tradition. Only recently did the Catholic church stop blaming Jews for killing Jesus. Well within most of ou lifetimes.

[Angry Dragon]

3. Tastes good??

[opiate69]

4. There's no end to the "whys" with this holiday..

[edhopper]

5. Because

it's so tasty?

[Journeyman]

6. Can't say why you do it. We're having enchiladas . . .

[greatauntoftriplets]

7. I have no idea.

We eat lamb.

[MineralMan]

20. Lamb of God?

Lambs were a traditional sacrifice, back in the day. Angus Dei...Jesus

[greatauntoftriplets]

25. Maybe because lamb is supposed to be particularly good in the spring.

They're young right now and the meat is said to be particularly good. For my family, it was always a Sunday or company dinner. I was always happy with leg of lamb because I don't much like ham because it's so salty.

[bitterross]

8. To piss off Jews?

Since they don't believe Jesus was the Messiah and they can't eat ham seems to be a good enough reason for the right.

I always thought it was about variety. Turkey for Thanksgiving, Christmas goose, do something else for Easter?

[MineralMan]

19. Close...

[Frustratedlady]

9. Hogs have been asking the same question for centuries. eom

[dchill]

10. I'm making London Broil. So there.

[Ohiogal]

12. Me too!

[MaryMagdaline]

11. Hmmmm poor people?

Not everyone could afford lamb or beef over the centuries.

[FirstLight]

13. This probably goes back to pagan times...

If you are living on stored food through the winter and easter/ostara is the first big ritual of spring...it would make sense that the pig might just be the first fresh meat of the year?

I could have worded that better, but you get my drift...

[uppityperson]

16. Smoked ham is what's left by this time of year. It's in season, before other

animals have given birth and young ones grown enough to butcher.

[dhol82]

27. Yum, suckling piglet

[femmedem]

14. Prior to refrigeration, it was in season.

"...Butchered in the fall, most hams were prepared and allowed to properly cure over the winter to further develop their flavor. This was a particularly important food source this time of year in some parts of the world where the rest of the stored meat would have already been eaten, with little other meat of any real quality available. This was the case in North America where the other traditional spring meat, lamb, was (and still is) less in vogue, which is also why eating ham on Easter in North America is much more popular than other regions where Easter is celebrated."

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2015/03/ham-traditionally-eaten-easter-2/

[Farmer-Rick]

54. The starving times

Early spring was when most of the stored foods had already been eaten and seeds were just getting planted. Food was scarce, people were pulling out any food they had left. If your sheep or pigs made it through the winter and had lamb or piglets, you'd be looking at them with a growling belly and hungry eyes.

[PJMcK]

15. We always had lamb when i was growing up

Since I'm now an atheist, maybe that's why I don't care for lamb.

It's a shame, really. But there it is.

[Major Nikon]

17. We always have a nice Kosher ham

My local butcher always has a pretty good stock of it just in time for Passover.

[MineralMan]

18. LOL!

Indeed...

[dhol82]

28. And I bet it does not get sold out!

[rickford66]

21. My family always had turkey.

Personally, I hate ham.

[sl8]

22. What else would we do with it? n/t

[TlalocW]

23. During the Inquisition

To show that they were Christians and not Jews, and that they shouldn't be bothered, people would put up a butchered hog outside their home to show they were having ham for Easter. At least, that's one story.

Ham and religion also play a part in some of our common sayings. A pig in a poke meaning not being able to inspect something before buying it comes from when Muslims ruled southern Spain. They banned pork so a black market rose up and putting a young pig in a sack (poke) to secret what kind of sale you were conducting became common. If your contact wasn't on the up-and-up, they might substitute a cat, and it was discovered when you, "let the cat out of the bag," which then became a phrase for revealing a secret.

TlalocW

[MineralMan]

33. Yes.

[left-of-center2012]

24. Rabbit is in short supply?

[MineralMan]

34. I used to threaten to serve Easter bunny stew

Every year. I never did, though.

[Major Nikon]

38. We have a pet rabbit

While in Peru last year my wife ate a guinea pig so now I have to watch her around the rabbit.

[MineralMan]

45. LOL!

Once a rodentivore...

[left-of-center2012]

62. ...

[SeattleVet]

50. I usually do a rabbit every year...

either on the rotisserie or in the slow cooker.

I started when my friend's kids were young, and have continued for probably 15 or 20 years now.

Never did it as a stew, though...

[hunter]

61. We had rabbit one Easter when we were kids.

My great grandma didn't understand what the problem was.

Rabbits were meat. Meat on the table was always a good thing.

I used to watch her cut apart freshly dead fish, birds, and mammals. Her hands moved faster than I could follow.

[Kali]

26. because we had turkey for Thanksgiving and roast beef for X-mass?

(fried chicken for the 4th o' July! )

[TexasProgresive]

29. In my opinion it was to smoke out hidden Jews and Muslims especially in Spain

After Ferdinand and Isabel united Spain. I could be wrong about the origin but I'm pretty sure the motive was anti Semitic.

[Binkie The Clown]

31. Vegan here. I'm having lentil soup this year. nt

[MineralMan]

35. Love lentil soup!

[Binkie The Clown]

36. Thick and savory, and served in a homemade bread bowl. nt

[dlk]

32. Because We Eat Turkey at Thanksgiving & Christmas?

[Freddie]

41. From the cooks point of view

Ham is a way easier meal to make. No gravy or mashed potatoes required.

[appleannie1943]

37. Leviticus was just as disapproving of even touching a pig as he was of homosexual behavior.

He said both were a blasphemy to God. So if you are a homophobe, you should not eat pork, shrimp, lobsters, clams, oysters etc. If so you abide by one rule and overlook the other. In fact you should not eat the fruit of hybrid seeds either. That was another no no. At this house, we will be having ham tomorrow and I would be willing to bet the green beans and yams were the fruit of hybrid plants. If my granddaughter and her wife were here, they would be welcome to eat with us.

[Major Nikon]

39. You can safely assume you've created God in your own image...

when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do. — Anne Lamott

[appleannie1943]

40. I just don't follow anything Leviticus said. I view him as a man that thought bigly of himself.

I prefer the New Testament as well.

[Igel]

42. Leviticus, not a person.

An adjective. "Levitical", in English.

Book of regulations and procedures for the Levites to follow.

[NeoGreen]

44. And no football (nt)

[MineralMan]

47. There is nobody named Leviticus.

There are, however, Levites, the rules for which the book describes.

[NeoGreen]

43. Because I would be judged harshly by my peers if...

...I ate a pound of bacon for the Ostara celebration. Ham is a socially acceptable substitute.

[MineralMan]

48. I would be judged harshly by my doctor

If I did that. He would waggle his finger at me.

[NeoGreen]

49. Well...

...there is that too...

[Igel]

46. Probably for the same reason Xians have Easter.

And it's on Sunday.

Because it's not Jewish. "We" dropped Passover and accommodated worship on the usual day of the week and *not* on Shabbat because Europeans and Asians (by which I mean those in Asia minor) hated Jews. For a while, Saturday was a fast day, a day of mourning. And the whole Quartodeciman controversy, with the churches in and around Jerusalem that kept to what they'd inherited losing out to Rome and what it wanted, meant Easter was in and Passover was out.

Not that there was any love lost over the issue between Quartodeciman Xians and the synagogues. The rabbis were fed up with the otherwise Torah-observant Jewish Xians lurking in their ranks. But between ostracism by the synagogues, anti-Semitism against Jews in the diaspora, and Catholic/mainstream pressure, they didn't stand a chance. Being in praise of pork was just an added signal, "Hey, I'm not one of them."

(Yes, all it takes is to be Torah-observant for muddleheaded bigots to assume you're Jewish and act on their inner anti-Semite. No actual adherence to Judaism or relation to anybody Jewish needed. I've been hit up by anti-Semitism and I'm pretty much 100% Celtic. And one of the most visible signs is a studious avoidance all things hog.)

[Lint Head]

51. Because.......................................................

BACON!

[Docreed2003]

52. Seems like an appropriate movie quote...although totally irreligious

Hey, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I'd never know 'cause I wouldn't eat the filthy motherf***er. Pigs sleep and root in shit. That's a filthy animal. I ain't eat nothin' that ain't got enough sense enough to disregard its own faeces.

[Historic NY]

53. I'm going Kosher this year.....

since I got back my Ancestry DNA results and found I'm 3% European Jewish, I got a Kosher chicken. מזל טוב‬, "mazel tov"

[woodsprite]

55. Our family does. No real religious significance, just tradition.

turkey for Thanksgiving, Italian for Xmas eve, xmas day is deli trays, salads, and everyone brings a batch of their favorite homemade cookies.

I'm doing a small ham this year since it's just the 4 of us, with green beans, scalloped carrots, sweet potatoes, coleslaw, and rolls. Crap! I just realized I forgot dessert

Our holidays revolve around "something for everyone". Also, everybody gets to pick their birthday meal. For mine, I do tarragon chicken with white wine.

[Lint Head]

56. Because. The Easter Pig!

[shraby]

57. Everyone is tired of turkey?

[AJT]

58. Seems so wrong to eat a meat that Jesus couldn't eat because of his religion.

[gibraltar72]

59. Cause it tastes better than turkey.

[tonyt53]

60. Any day is a good day for ham.

[LuvNewcastle]

63. Any meat will do for Easter.

Easter is the first day after Lent, so people who are sick of all the fish for the past 40 days are going to want some meat. Pork is relatively inexpensive and plentiful, so it's a popular choice.

[muriel_volestrangler]

64. An advertising campaign in 1930's America

This has come up before. It turns out "we" is just a subset of Americans (you've already had a lot of replies saying they don't, in their families).

Here was my post rounding up European Easter food traditions - almost anything apart from ham:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=214&topic_id=204998&mesg_id=205107

and a member (shame they don't post any more, I always like their posts) talking about the ads:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=263&topic_id=42667&mesg_id=42686