World traditions – Pig slaughter
There are plenty of European countries where pig slaughter is still common in traditional rural houses. This occurs before Christmas to provide festive cuisine and the entire family participates.
The animal is slaughtered with a knife, then drained of blood, hair is burned and then washed away. A cold day is chosen as a natural method of preserving the relatively large quantities of meat during the butchering. After it is cut into pieces, the meat from the animal is then processed further into edible products.