22 Donald A. Mackenzie— ^co/^i^/i Pork Taboo 



who are still, as they formerly were, in the vast majority. In 

 certain districts, as in the Hebrides, the descendants of pork- 

 eating intruders have acquired the prejudice. James VI of 

 Scotland and some contemporary lords had likewise succumbed 

 to the ancient taboo. 



Nothing persists like immemorial superstitions or like 

 food prejudices based on superstitious beliefs. It is the 

 common people who perpetuate old-world customs and still 

 observe Halloween, May-day and other pre-Christian festi- 

 vals, who visit '' wishing wells " and make metal offerings 

 and tie rags to '" washing trees." In the seventeenth century 

 Dingwall Presbytery, as its minutes show (1656 — 1678) had to 

 deal with offenders among the common people who perpetuated 

 '' heathenish practices " at Loch Maree, including the sacri- 

 ficing of bulls, the pouring of oblations of milk on the hills, 

 etc. Fairies, goblins, etc., are still believed in by sections of 

 the inhabitants of Scotland. The pork taboo is only one of 

 many survivals. 



INVERNESS BOAR STONE. 



That the pork taboo is of Eastern origin there can be little 

 doubt. In Egypt the black pig acquired an evil reputation 

 because it was a form assumed by Set, the slayer of Osiris. 

 Set was the prototype of the Satanic pig demon. ' As Egyptian 

 barley and Egyptian religious beliefs associated with the 

 agricultural mode of life reached this country at a very early 



