dowry payment

The dowry payment event is a vegans nightmare.  The whole village has turned out to see four pigs slaughtered, hacked into bits and boiled in half a 44 gallon drum over an open fire.  Fun for the whole family.  Rice is cooked in woks the size of a small bath, and served as the glue to accompany the hunks of pig fat and skin.  All this at 9.00am before I have had my green smoothie...

Local custom is that the groom's family pay an agreed amount to the bride's family, and then the groom's family hold a huge shin-dig to raise the money.  An "office" is set up at the front of the house, and a record made of each donation.  The village chief keeps the record book, and a check is made on those who do not show up or make a  generous donation.  The adage is, what goes around comes around - if you donate now, when your daughter is ready to wed, you will reap the benefits in return. For your money you get a free bowl of rice and pig, a glass of water and a take-away bag of pig fat.  Mmmm, hold me back.

Just like an Australian barbie, the men hover around the meat and the women do everything else.  A great fuss is made over the meat table; animated discussion over the who gets the prize chunks and how much should be bagged up for later.  Sticks are waved to shoo the flies and various dismembered pieces are prodded and siphoned off into baskets to be handed around to the hungry crowd.  Just grab a greasy chunk and chew.  If you would like more sauce with your breakfast, head on over to the boiling vat and spoon out some of the pork water and scum.