FYI: There will be pictures at the end of this post that will show a pig being killed!!
Today was our first PIG mumu! Remember a mumu is when they bury food in the ground and cook it over very hot stones?! People usually do mumu celebrations because someone got married, someone died, the mourning of the dead is over, someone built a house, or people want to make money! In this case, my friend Julie wanted to make money. She has been raising this pig for a while and he was “of size”.
The last mumu we went to was just a vegetable mumu (they are part of a religion that doesn’t eat pig) and we just observed (except peeling potatoes). This mumu was for my friend, so I got to be a part of it!
We got there right in time to see them kill the pig! BJ was excited! My friend held on to the sweet pig, when a man bonked it in the head several times with an axe! BJ asked what would have happened if the pig bit her…she didn’t answer! 🙂 After this, the men threw it on the fire, and then took it off the fire to scrape off his skin. Next, they cut him up into several pieces. Don’t you love my details!??!
So they piled everything on the pile in this order: banana leaves, sweet potatoes, taro, more leaves, kumu (those lovely greens everyone brings me! Yuck.), then hot stones, then the pig meat, then more leaves, and then dirt.
My job was to help uncover the mumu (after it cooked 3 hours). First of all, I wear shoes every day…and they never do. So while we are standing on this very hot ground, I wonder how they are standing there without shoes?! And while we are moving the dirt and leaves, it is literally burning my hand! Of course, they are so careful to let the “white woman” help, because they don’t want us to get hurt. We are trying to show them that we are the same as them! But I will admit that their skin is a little tougher than mine!
We had a great time supporting our friends at the mumu. And guess what we got out of it…KAUKAU (pronounced: cowcow- sweet potatoes) mmmm! Everyone who helps get to chow down on the vegetables and greens and then you only eat pig meat if you buy it. We bought some and gave it away…it’s the toughest meat you will ever eat! They make equivalent to about $150. So this is well worth it for them!
I love to eat meat! HOWEVER, this would have made my cry like a baby. I do not like seeing an animal get killed! Thanks for the image. Miss you guys dearly!
XOXO
Lulu