White Spots Bad Breath

TORO TORO TORO MEAT

If the data might seem curious that I brought to speak of the flesh of the bull, its use and consumption, beliefs about the reproductive powers of the same etc., No less interesting are also the beliefs in the powers harmful sanitizers were attributed to the blood of animals in general and to the bull in particular, whether it was ingested by humans.

is no doubt that blood played an important role in the sacrificial rites of any class of victims. This vital fluid represented the very life and was banned for use by biblical mandate: "... because the life of all flesh is the blood in the blood is life. So I have commanded the children of Israel: Do not eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is the blood, who eats be deleted. "(1), while introducing, in the covenant that God made with Noah, bleed the meat before eating: "Only you abstendréis of eat flesh with its soul, that is, their blood ..."( 2), therefore, anyone who ate the flesh without bleeding was guilty of a series of punishments and calamities, which would be sent by the deity.

Despite biblical threats and evils that could lead to ingestion, the use of bull's blood was surrounded by so many meanings and beliefs as we shall see.

Plato describes in the " The Kritias " how to use the blood of the bull by the kings of Atlantis, when they sacrificed to the sea god Poseidon who, incidentally, is always sacrificed black bulls. With the blood of the bull sprinkled among them, as a ritual cleansing and she was impregnated with a column of oricalco placed in the center of the temple of Pseidón-the-Heraklion, where laws were written Atlantis "... After finishing the sacrifice and devote all parts of the bull, a crater filled with blood and sprayed one by one with a few drops of it .. Then, drawing some blood of the crater with cups of gold ... drank the blood and deposited the cup as a votive offering at the shrine of the god . "(3)

One of the ten kings of Atlantis, called Anthia, it seems that lived in Zamora, where he found a statue of" Tamer bulls, invoking degree with Poseidon. (4)
taurobolium In the rite or sacrifice of the bull, the blood was the essential element in the initiation rites dedicated to the mysteries of Attis, Cybele (the fertile land and mistress of the beasts) and the Iranian god Mitra . In both cases included the baptism of the initiated, or the priest with the blood of a freshly slaughtered bull.

The cult of Cybele was introduced into Rome about 204 BC, in times of general Publius Cornelius Scipio "Africanus (236-183 BC), when in their struggle against Hannibal, the end of the Punic Wars, consulted Sibylline books (It was a mythical and prophetic books of ancient Rome) and they predicted that Hannibal would be rejected by Italy, brought about the cult of Cybele to Rome. (5) was introduced in Spain
its cult of the hand of the Emperor Augustus (Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian, 63 BC 14 AD), who felt a special reverence for Cibeles.
As cited in the library Celtiberia.net " The last appearance in 2000 in the wall of Barcino, a relief of the god Attis, and dated in the first half of the first century AD by the experts, helps ensure that the cult of Cybele and Attis is present in the city of Barcelona from the moment of its foundation by Augustus in the late first century BC .. "
The ritual was done by the officiating priest, as it recounts the English poet Prudentius Aurelius (348-410 AD one of the best Christian poets of antiquity) in Peristephanon ( Book of the crowns of the martyrs ) .
In the story dedicated to the martyrdom of San Román us taurobolium describes the rite as follows: "The high priest hidden underground in a pit ready to receive his consecration in the depths ... tight head with the sacred ... turban adorned her hair with golden crown, adjusting the silk robe to ma manner Gabia.
with wooden planks placed over the grave built a platform stage, which remains open in many places ... and immediately make slits or hole platform with multiple hits ... bit ... there driving a huge bull facing fierce and bristling, tied with garlands of flowers in their backs or chained antlers, gold also shines on the forehead of the victim and her hair covers the glow of golden plates.
After they have placed there an animal that has to be killed, you open the chest with the knife sacred: the wide wound throws a flood of boiling blood, and on the boards of the bridge below the bull is spilled on torrent blood and expands warmth everywhere. So for the many canals of the thousand crevices penetrating the blood gush their rotten current rains, which receives the priest got into the pit, exposing his dirty head all the drops, infesting her dress and her whole body .
Moreover, his face lifted up, offers her cheek to meet the blood ... and even his eyes bathed in the liquid ... Then the other priests have been removed from that platform the bull's body out of the pit ... the Pope , horrible sight, his head dripping ... shows his bandages and his clothes soaked in blood drunk.
this Man spotted with such contact, soiled with the venom of the sacrifice that has just consummated, all acclaimed him and worship him from afar, because the blood vile and have purified bull killed while hiding in cave horrible .... ( 6)
In Merida, there was a temple dedicated to the god Mithras, the third century BC, located under the current bullring, where they do, as we know, the gorgeous and elaborate rites of taurobolium.

There were also temples dedicated to the Phrygian goddess Cybele in various locations throughout the country, like Carmona, Seville, known as the "Tomb of the Elephant ", named for having met in this temple a figure of an elephant, which is the symbol of longevity. This temple is located in the Roman necropolis in the town of Seville, of important dimensions, 26 meters long, which had a patio, almost rectangular, about 150 square meters.
counted as well, with kitchen, dual chamber and three " couches, which were rooms devoted to the ceremonial banquets (where the Romans celebrated a traditional meal on the anniversary of their dead) and the pit where they introduced the priest or novice, to receive the blood of bulls sacrificed in the rite of taurobolium.

The ancient temple is believed to date back to the days of Emperor Claudius (41-54 AD) or perhaps earlier.
Reminiscences of the cults of Cybele were absorbed by Christianity by the syncretism of dances to the Virgin Mary, in which the dancers are dressed in feminine clothes, recalling, in this way, the " Corybantes", "gallus" or "Gallis" eunuchs who were priests who practiced eviración or emasculation, playing the lover of Cybele (Atti, who had been castrated by the goddess to having been unfaithful), and the ceremonies dedicated to the sacrifice of Atti dressed in feminine clothes. To get started as a priest in the cult of Cybele, castrated novices collectively with a flint knife and wore clothes and adorned with beads of a Woman (castration was forbidden at the time of Domitian from -81 to 96 AD, and replaced by death bull). This ceremony will be held on March 24, known as " Day of Blood", since, as climax, was made the sacrificial death of the bull, in the rite of "taurobolium" part of their drinking blood. Examples
dancers reminiscent of syncretism, in honor of the Virgin, we can cite those practiced in Villafrades (Valladolid) in honor of Grijasalbas virgin, or those who dance to the Virgen de Tejeda, in Villa de Moya (Cuenca), the Virgin of the Nativity of Méntrida (Toledo), those of the Virgen del Arrabal, Laguna de Negritos (León) or to end the dancers on stilts Anguiano (La Rioja), in honor of St. Mary Magdalene, and over at least a dozen villages of our country.
Both cults of Mithra and Cybele, it seems, were banned permanently by the Council of Toledo XVII of the year 694, summoned by the Visigoth king Egic (Witiza father) and chaired by Sisberto bishop of Toledo.
The writer Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) tells, in his "Natural History " in Greece and Rome used the blood of the bull, at once, as poison and as a tonic and also that " ... the blood of a black bull and brave, rubbed in the kidneys of a woman, caused excitement in it special ...". Ojo! That anyone even think to experiment, please!. Posts
to administering medication, this same author also describes a Druid sacrifice associated with infertility cure "... the sixth day of the moon, druids climbed a sacred oak and cut a branch of mistletoe, using for this a "golden sickle ( probably gilt bronze), taking the branch with a white blanket. Then sacrificed two white bulls. " The belief was that mistletoe when mixed with the blood of slaughtered bulls, ingesting the potion cure sterility. (7)
In Egypt, a remedy used to remove the bleaching of the hair, the famous gray, and achieved by means of a draft with the "blood of an ox black, mixed with oil and coat the head " described in the Papyrus Ebers medical. Apparently believed that the properties of an individual were included in their blood. Therefore the ox black color could convey these qualities through his blood, human hair (8).
The geographer Pausanias (s.II AD) relates in his "Description of Greece " the priestess the goddess Gaia (Earth, among the Greeks), before entering the cave to prophesy divine, to the faithful drank goblets with the blood of bulls, as proof of her chastity Ordal, demonstrating that it was invulnerable to sexual temptations. (9)
Another type of use made of the blood of bulls, is found in the ritual of the oath of the Seven Against Thebes allied leaders, described by Aeschylus (525-456 BC), whose sinking ceremony hands in the blood of a bull, collected in the hollow of a shield. (10)
References can be found in the Bible about the use made of the blood of sacrificial victims are numerous and range from the consecration of the altar: " Moses slaughtered and taking the bull's blood, smeared with his finger the horns of the altar all around, and purified, shedding the blood at the foot of the altar, and consecrated him to make atonement for him ...", or used for anointing priests "... then took blood and smeared the lobe of Aaron's right ear, the thumb of his right hand and his right foot ... Took Moses anointing oil and blood that was on the altar, Aspergillus to Aaron and his garments and the sons of Aaron and his garments, enshrining "(11), or even using it as a symbol of partnership," Moses asked young men who blew themselves up bulls ... Moses took half the blood, putting it in jars, and the other half he splashed on the altar ... He took the blood and sprinkled the people, saying: "This is the blood of the covenant that Yahweh with you on all these precepts ." (12). Note the parallels between these passages and mentioned by Plato in Kriti, with variant instead of spilling the blood upon the altar, the kings of Atlantis did oricalco column on the temple of Poseidon.
Another variant is the belief in the appearance or lustral purifying the blood of slaughtered bulls, which was still at the beginning of our era, among the Jews, can be found in the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews: "For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer sanctifies the unclean and gives the meat clean, much more shall the blood of Christ ... ! "(13), and later in the same epistle, the apostle says:" ... But in those sacrifices every year are a reminder of sins, being impossible for the blood of bulls and of goats erase sins "(14). In reality, what does St. Paul in this epistle, not just extolling the virtues of the bull's blood, but old beliefs condemn longer in use, but reveals the existence and permanence, even, of such customs among the Gentiles and categorically rejects.
In the above passages of the anointing of Aaron and his sons as priests, sprinkling the blood on his clothes, as did the kings of Atlantis being sprayed with the blood of the bull of Poseidon, presumably, at least one certain similarity between the rituals and ceremonies performed in the taurobolium, in which the priest, or the neophyte in the initiation rite, leaving materially watered with the blood of the slaughtered bull and thus purified that baptism lustral and bloody. Those initiated by this ritual, through the baptism of the cleansing blood, they benefited from immortality. Another tradition
lustral aspect of the bull's blood and transmission of reproductive aspects of the animal, is found in the custom framed bull in the rites of marriage, which took place in many parts of northern Extremadura geography century until very near XIX. The survival of this ritual is quite old find me for what s already covered by one of the Cantigas de Santa Maria, Alfonso X El Sabio.
The main event was to remove a ceremonial bull slaughter, two days before the betrothal and enmaromado by the horns was taken to the home of the bride. During the trip, the boyfriend was fighting with his cape or a sheet of the furnishings of the couple, with more or less success, trying to rub on the back or the bull's horns these garments. Meanwhile, the entourage arrived at the house of the bride and Burel was tied to the bars of the window. The bride gave the groom a few flags, richly decorated, that is the key to the bull and the blood Manase lustral. Then should try to impregnate the layer or sheet of the furnishings in the blood of the animal, believing that this impregnation blood transmitted bull's reproductive powers to the newlyweds, when they came in contact with these items, thereby ensuring the fruitfulness of the couple. (15)
Another variant, reminiscent in beliefs about the magic of Taurica blood, is found in the village of Rebollar Leon, where they still practice the custom of ancestral character, the day after San Blas (Sa Blasina as call it), where the boys pretend to shoot down a mock bull, made by two men disguised. After slaughtering all drink large quantities ensuring wine is the blood of dead animal. (16) is likely to retain some measure of libation taurofagias reminiscent of those ancient rituals that were practiced in the Dionysian rites.
The mustachioed, anti-taurine and anti-flamenquista Eugenio Noel, in his book "The Capeas " recounts, with a repulsive and nauseating prose, how children, women and elderly, needy and destitute, were stinking tail to the municipal slaughterhouse Madrid, in the early twentieth century, to collect some portion of blood from bull served every day, almost the only food tonic to overcome hunger or kill (17).
In Mithraism, was the belief general vines, grapes and therefore wine, had emerged from the blood of the bull, when he was killed by the god Mitra (18).
therefore not surprising that there are certain agricultural rites in ancient times confined to the "fertile crescent " and the shores of the Mediterranean, which consisted of spraying the fields with bull's blood, thinking to increase the fertility of crops. There may be no apparent connection whatsoever, but similar custom is still practiced today among the Andean people, who spilled the blood work camps of the Flames, while invoking the " Pacha Mama (Mother Earth ) for increase the fertility of their fields.

Overall cattle was regarded as auspicious animals for offerings to the gods, not only for its economic value, but for being the sacrificial victim of greater cultural value, represented by the symbols of power , virility and fertilizing power.

Therefore, in the Roman world, were the favorite animals to be offered to Jupiter and the " Tellus Mater" (a goddess who personified the Earth) in agricultural or fertility rites of the fields, as in the rites called " Fordicidia " or " Hordicidia "(From fordus or Ordus," pregnant cow), dedicated to this goddess. Took place around 15 April to ensure the fertility of the fields and the abundance of crops, slaughtering pregnant cows.

Flores Arroyuelo we describe a legend that goes back in time to the reign of Numa "Pompilio (2 first king of Rome 715-672 BC replaced Romulus):" ... the nymph Egeria (Roman goddess sources and childbirth), Oracle Faunus (a god who had promoted agriculture and animal husbandry among men), revealed Numa remedy to end years of hardship and poverty, concerning the slaughter of a pregnant cow whose blood had watered the earth to fertilize it. This was carried out in each of the thirty curiae (meeting places) that Rome was divided, and at a time as was the spring when the flocks were pregnant and on earth sprouted seeds, and a can act as a magic-sympathetic understanding whereby "a fertile land was offered a fertile victim" in a ceremony that was celebrated with great solemnity in the Capitol or "city of Jupiter," the pontiff (Pontifex maximus) as officiating in the first party that carried out the sacrifice of the animal and removal of the calf of the maternal womb, while the feast was celebrated by the faithful that they ate pieces of cooked meat from the animal, was given the Vestal to In the second part, the oldest among them, home burn in the temple of Vesta to reduce it to ashes ... . " The vestal virgins (priestesses of Vesta, goddess of the hearth), kept the ashes of unborn calves slaughtered, until the arrival of Parilia festival (Festival commemorating the founding of Rome), where they were used for purification to attendees. ( 6)
this regard supporters religious origin of bullfighting is based on certain existing agricultural rites in a vast historical and cultural area, from Japan to Madagascar, " is to make two bulls fight each other and sacrificing the winner, or simply to sacrifice bulls in spring, always with the magical-religious purpose to invigorate the fields with the blood of bulls . (10)
An original custom is found, at present, in the town of Benavente Zamora, hosting the "Fiesta del Toro "day of" Corpus Christi ", where after the bull run enmaromado and after being slaughtered and butchered the animal, girls called "bull brokers, stain your shoes in the blood of the animal, as remembrance of the blood offerings demanded Diana to their priests and Nereids, and the meat is distributed among the young people benaventanos. This ritual, it seems, has its roots in the ancient Dionysian rites. "There is (according to footnote the author of" Iberian mythology "), this party was imported from Portuguese soil, a countess, at which a bull had killed a child, gave an annual enmaromado bull and it was dead . (4)
A legend, like the Portuguese, is what gave rise to "San Juan bull" in Coria (Cáceres), with the variation that each year, by order of the Countess, had to be sacrificed a young man who was chosen by lot those who reached puberty until he was replaced by a bull, whose ritual was described in the article on "L to meat-I bull." In this event, when the animal is slaughtered, the boys spotted their sandals in the blood of the bull, believing that contact with the blood Taurica provides the strength and the fertilizing power and therefore a guarantee of fertility for the couple (6).
But not all the qualities of the bull's blood were beneficial or positive sign as we have seen and therefore could not be without some examples of harmful and dangerous aspects of the blood, as discussed below.
ingestion of blood as a drink was considered in antiquity as sacrilegious as penalized in the Bible, above.
In the world of classical Greece, it was believed that the blood of the bull was a deadly poison for humans, as evidenced by a story in which Aeson (Jason's father and brother of Pelias, king of Iolcus , Thessaly), committed suicide by drinking the blood of a bull, before he killed his brother Pelias.
Herodotus also says that Pharaoh Psamtik III (526-525 BC of the XXVI dynasty), was forced by the Persian King Cambyses I (528-521 BC, son of Cyrus II " El Grande", the founder of the Persian empire of "Achaemenid ) to drink the blood of bull to death. , the case of Themistocles (525-460 BC Greek statesman military and a key figure in the Wars Medical and winner in the battle of Salamis), died, according to legend, by abusing the blood meal bull, but in the Greek tradition was said to be poisoned, that way, not to help the King of Persia Artaxerxes I (465-424 BC), where he had refugee, to attack their country and to be involved in the treason of Pausanias. (16)
say the same thing happened to our king Ferdinand. According to legend claimed that he died on the way to Guadalupe (died on January 23, 1516 in Madrigalejo, Cáceres, when he went to attend the chapter on the orders of Calatrava and Alcantara in the Monastery of Guadalupe), an indigestion drink the blood of a purple or black chestnut bull, although another version said it was for binge of this animal's testicles (9).
An author of the XVI century folklorist, but Mexia, marveled that they had justification for such beliefs any rational when he says: "... how to drink bull's blood kills, and what reason there desto natural, and some who killed her, and how not kill and who was the first who tamed bulls, and other parties and ran for the same purpose ...".( 19)
Finally, repair at this popular ballad circulating among the people of the Town and Court, in the middle of XVII century, which, interestingly, singing the praises of water and blood bull

"Agua de San Isidro
cure fevers, blood of young bull

seeks good legs."

Many more examples could brought here for the sake, but for now I think is enough.
Plácido González Hermoso.
REFERENCES 1 .- Lev. 17, 14-15
2 .- Gen. 9: 4-5
3 .- Antonio García Bellido, "Twenty-five prints of Old Spain, Colecc. Austral-A-181
4 .- Maclug d'Obrheravt, "Iberian mythology." 5 .- Antonio Blanco
Freijeiro, "Hispania metroacos Documents." 6 .- Flores
F. Rill, "The bull in ancient times", and Juan Posada, Weekly report on Athena.
7 .- Miranda Jane Green, "Celtic Myths." Edicc. 8 .- Revista
AKAL VERY SPECIAL n º 33, January-February 1998
9 .- Fernando Sanchez Drago, "Volapié, Bulls and Tauromagia"
10 .- Angel Alvarez de Miranda .- "Rites and Toro games."
11 .- Lev. 8, 15-16
12 .- Exodus, 24, 5-9
13 .- Hebrews, 9, 13-14
14 .- Hebrews, 10, 3-5
15 .- Fco Flores Rill, "Running the bulls in Spain "16 .- Cristina Delgado
Linacero .-" The bull in the Mediterranean "
17 .- Eugenio Noel," The anti-bullfighting Capeas and other writings "
18 .- José María González Stephani, magazine" EL TORO " Club Taurino
1966 .- 19.-But Mexia, Silva several lessons ", 2 ª Part III, Chapter XXIV, published in 1542