Another Easter question.

[Mr. McD]

A Jewish friend asked me why Ham is traditional for celebrating certain Christian rituals (Easter, Christmas) dealing with the life and death of a Jewish rabbi. Is it an intentional slap in the face to Judaism? Not being Christian I was unable to give him an answer. Any thoughts on the subject? :shrug:

[The Straight Story]

1. Because it tastes good :)

Although we had ham and turkey. Some could probably sit about and argue that there is a deep philosophical thing to it - Jesus changing things, the whole gentile stream of things and not being bound by jewish laws, ham=freedom from all that, etc.

But for me, we like it. No simpler than that, more a family tradition than anything else (my X's relatives ate lamb on easter however).

[Sanity Claws]

2. I'm not sure it is

I think that ham is more of a cultural thing, not a religious. Many cultures think Lamb is the traditional way to celebrate Easter. Many cultures think of goose for Christmas

[AllegroRondo]

3. It just tastes good

and you can feed a lot of people with one.

[seriousstan]

4. Ham first became a spring favorite in the time of the Romans,

who buried pork by the sea in the winter to create a salty, cured ham for the spring. America's pilgrims carried on the tradition of ham in the spring, hand-curing pork in the fall in preparation for the Easter feast.
The pilgrims feasted on ham at the first American Easter celebration.
In pre-refrigeration days, hogs were slaughtered in the fall and cured for six to seven months - just in time for Easter dinner.
Ham is born in the spring.

[Amy6627]

5. I have always thought it was a slap in the face to Jews, that we

ate ham on Easter. I have been a Christian all my life (and still am), I have thought that since I was a little kid. Since Jesus' last supper was a Passover meal, I think we should eat what the Jews eat at Passover on Easter.

[MemphisTiger]

11. That's fine if you are Jewish, but otherwise eat what you want

eat a pizza if you like

[Tesibria]

6. Seems to be from tradition from curing pre-refrigeration days

Per http://www.nj.com/living/ledger/index.ssf?/base/living-0/1111560206122990.xml :

The tradition of ham at the Easter table -- as a symbol of new life and rebirth -- comes from ye olden times, pre-refrigeration, according to Johnson.

"In those days, hogs were slaughtered in the fall, and the hams were cured for six to seven months. Everyone waited in anticipation of that meat for the springtime," she says.

See also http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/holidays/easter/trivia.htm

[manic expression]

7. Perhaps it was a tradition

which carried over from the Pagan holiday? I have no idea myself, but I'm just putting it out there.

[TlalocW]

8. During the Inquisition

One way to show that you weren't Jewish or Muslim during the Easter season (and thus keep the Inquisition from taking you in) was to hang a ham outside your house since the other religions consider it filthy.

Ham and its prohibition/allowance is also where we get two phrases - a pig in a poke and letting the cat out of the bag. When the Muslims controled most of Spain, a black market for pork developed, and young pigs were often sold in a bag called a poke. If the seller was less than scrupulous, he might substitute a cat for the pig, and if the potential buyer opened the sack before the deal was complete, and the buyer could get away, he was said to have let the cat out of the bag - revealed the secret.

TlalocW

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. As far as I know, ham is not a Christmas tradition

although it may be in some places.

Everyone I know has either turkey or goose.

[MemphisTiger]

10. Christians are not bound by the same dietary laws that Jews are

This is why we can eat pork and shrimp. I think the story goes that if you didn't cook pork to a certain temperature you could get very sick possibly die and shellfish were just bottom feeders and the whole your body is a temple thing. However, only Jews are still bound by these laws, not others.

[dryan]

12. I think it has something...

to do with the fact that hams were cured over the long winter and were finally cooked when spring came. I remember my home ec teacher saying something about this lo these many years ago. Frankly, you can eat anything. We had salmon steaks.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

14. Muslims

also do not eat pork.

[MemphisTiger]

15. Right, I thought we were only restricting our discussion to Jews

versus Christians. Also, Muslims are not allowed to drink alcohol at all.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

16. or gamble

eom

[LiberalEsto]

13. Pigs were sacred to the Goddess

in some parts of pagan Europe, but there was often one day a year when it was permissible to eat pork. Robert Graves writes about this in chapter 16 of "The White Goddess".
Perhaps the ham tradition evolved from that.