Meat lottery: a spectacle in transition from Ethiopia to Israel |
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| Authors: | Hagar Salamon |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Folklore and Folk Culture Studies, The Harry S.?Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israelhagar.salamon@mail.huji.ac.il |
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| Abstract: | ABSTRACTMeat is a key idiom in the lives of the Ethiopian Jews, both private and collective. This paper focuses on meat lottery as a unique praxis in Ethiopia and in the move of the Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews) community, from Ethiopia to Israel. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, the egalitarian divide of meat to be consumed by all partners and its accompanied lottery ritual is described and analyzed, directing the gaze to its socio-cultural and symbolic meanings. Beyond the mitigating aspects of the lottery from a social perspective, i.e. circumventing potential rivalries in the distribution of the meat of a single animal among several partners, it is connected at heart with the notions of sacrifice and transformation. |
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| Keywords: | Meat consumption lottery sacrifice Ethiopia Ethiopian Jews |
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