Butchering Hogs According To the Moon?

We were thinking about taking our pig, Porky to the butcher next week (our first time butchering anything) but are re-thinking it based on some old-time wisdom. Or is it a superstition?

A fellow told us that an old-timer who had butchered thousands of hogs in his lifetime always said that you should not butcher during "the light of the moon" because they do not bleed enough. He said you should butcher during the "dark of the moon". The fellow telling us this is himself an "old-timer" compared to me and the "old timer" that he was referring to is now deceased. He said that was the guy who he always had to butcher his hogs and they always turned out wonderfully.

Well, the "light of the moon" would be a full moon, which will occur next week when we were thinking about having him butchered. The "dark of the the moon" would be a new moon, which the next ones are April 17th and May 16th.

Has anyone heard this logic before and what do you think about it? Is it based on the time-lost wisdom of the "signs" that we no longer understand, or is it just a superstition that has no basis?

We may go ahead and wait anyway, as we are in no hurry to get it done. Our freezer situation isn’t exactly ready for 100 plus pounds of meat right now, so it may be better to put it off until the middle of April or May anyway.

I thought it was an interesting tip, though, and am curious to hear what you all think about it!


4 comments
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Debi on March 29, 2007 at 9:29 am
I don't know, I would think that "maybe" that Oldtimer knows a little secret to really good meat. That and if you only did butchering at certain times, you would spread out your supply to last longer. I don't know, I'm grabbing at straws here. At least try it both ways mark the meat so you know which is which and let us know.

Blessings,

Debi
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sheryl on March 29, 2007 at 10:04 am
I will ask my grandpa if he has ever heard of that. My M-I-L told me yesterday something about baby chicks. She said her grandmother would not hatch chicks out in June because the would peep themselves to death. I ask papaw if he ever heard of that and he said no. I will ask for you and let you know soon. Sheryl
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sheryl on March 29, 2007 at 10:23 pm
I asked my grandfather about the butchering of hogs and he said he had never heard of butchering during the light of the moon. He said they butched them when they needed to or was ready. I don`t know. I would just go with my gut instinct. I really don`t think it matters but you know how that goes. Sheryl
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mom2ahousefull on March 31, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Well, we use signs for various things like planting, etc. Our Grandads used them, and we just followed suit since that was who taught us what little we know about homestead type stuff.