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Pigs, widely present in world cultures, have taken on many meanings and been used for many purposes in popular culture and literature. As one scholar puts it, people all over the world have made swine stand for "extremes of human joy or fear, celebration, ridicule, and repulsion." 〔Richard P. Horwitz. ''Hog Ties: Pigs, Manure, and Mortality in American Culture.'' (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002). ISBN 0816641838 p. 23.〕 They have become synonymous with negative attributes, especially greed, gluttony, and uncleanliness, and these ascribed attributes have often led to critical comparisons between pigs and humans. ==In religion== *In Nordic Mythology, "Gold-Bristle" or "Gold-Mane" was Freyr's golden boar, created by the dwarves Brokk and Sindri as part of a challenge. His shining fur is said to fill the sky, trees, and sea with light. *In ancient Egypt, pigs were associated with Set, the rival to the sun god Horus. When Set fell into disfavor with the Egyptians, swineherds were forbidden to enter temples. According to Herodotus, swineherds were a kind of separate sect or caste, which only married among themselves. Egyptians regarded pigs as unworthy sacrifices to their gods other than the Moon and Dionysus, to whom pigs were offered on the day of the full Moon. Herodotus states that, though he knew the reason why Egyptians abominated swine at their other feasts but they sacrificed them at this one; however, it was to him "not a seemly one for me to tell".〔(Sacrifice Goats, female or male ).〕 *In Hinduism the god Vishnu took the form of a four-armed humanoid with the head of a boar named Varaha in order to save the Earth from a demon who had dragged it to the bottom of the sea. *In Buddhism the goddess Marici is often depicted riding in a carriage hauled by several pigs. *In ancient Greece, a sow was an appropriate sacrifice to Demeter and had been her favorite animal since archaic times. Initiates at the Eleusinian Mysteries began by sacrificing a pig. Pig were also sacrificed to Aphrodite. *The Pig is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. Believers in Chinese astrology associate each animal with certain personality traits (see: Pig (zodiac)). One of the best known and widely loved characters in Chinese literature is "Pigsy" from the novel Journey to the West, a symbol for man's appetites and lack of restraint. *In keeping with Leviticus 11:7, the dietary laws of Judaism (Kashrut, adj. Kosher) forbid, among other kinds of meat, the eating of pork in any form, considering the pig to be an unclean animal as food (see taboo food and drink).The prohibition is repeated in Deuteronomy: "And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you. Ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcass."(Deuteronomy 14:8). A similar prohibition is repeated in the Bible in the book of Isaiah, chapter 65 verse 2-5. From the strict reading to the relevant Torah passage, pork is as forbidden as the flesh of any other unclean animal, but probably due to extensive use of pork in modern days, abhorrence of pork is far stronger and emotional in traditional Jewish culture than that of other forbidden foods. Many Ancient Jews also held the prohibition on pigs above other taboos. In ''De Specialibus Legibus'', Philo of Alexandria, a first-century Jewish writer, relates that pigs were lazy scavengers, the embodiment of vice. Philo also argued that since pigs will eat the flesh of human corpses, that men should abstain from eating them so as not to be contaminated.〔Philo of Alexandria, ''De specialibus legibus'', lib. 4, ch. 17-18〕 * Among Seventh-day Adventists and some other denominations, the eating of pork is prohibited. Most Christians believe that the eating of pork is not prohibited, according to the teachings of the New Testament. In Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and other, older Christian groups, pigs are associated with Saint Anthony the Great, who is known as the patron saint of swineherds. * In Christianities the book of Mark, in an event referred to as the exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac Jesus casts the demons Legion (demon) possessing a swine herder from Gerasene; into 2000 of the swine herders pigs. 〔 〕 *The eating of pork is also sinful in Islam (see Haraam). The Qur'an prohibits the consumption of pork in no less than 4 different places. It is prohibited in 2:173, 5:3, 6:145 and 16:115. "Forbidden to you (for food) are: dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which hath been invoked the name of other than Allah." (5:3 ) Islam treats pigs as inedible animals ''par excellence'', the animal that is central to the concepts of ''haram''. *In Haitian Vodou, Ezili Dantor, the lwa of motherhood, is associated with the black Creole Pig of Haiti, her favorite animal sacrifice. *The ancient Romans practiced a sacrifice called the ''suovetaurilia'', in which a pig, a ram, and a bull were sacrificed, as one of the most solemn acts of the Roman religion. *The Celts also had a god of swine called Moccus, who under Roman occupation was identified with Mercury. In Celtic mythology, a cauldron overflowing with cooked pork was one of the attributes of The Dagda. In the tale of ''Culhwch and Olwen'' from the Welsh ''Mabinogion'', the ''Twrch Trwyth'' was a prince whom God turned into a boar on account of his wickedness. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pigs in popular culture」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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