There is no good reason why I should be writing about goats, except that last weekend there was a picture in our newspaper of three little boys in Tenerife trying to drag a large goat into a river. The captioned explained that this photo was taken at a yearly festival called “The Bathing of the Goats.”
My reading came to a dead stop while I scrutinized the
picture. What on earth was this all
about, I wondered. I’ve heard of the of the
Blessing of the Animals, and one day many years ago on Olvera Street in Los Angeles
I even saw a procession of animals being led past a priest who appeared to be baptizing
(but in actuality was blessing) each animal.
Not being Catholic, I was fascinated by such a ritual – first because of
the diversity of animals anticipating this blessing, and secondly that
seemingly ordinary people were involved in shepharding their animals
through the line.
As an aside, I must mention that when an hour or so earlier
Jerry and I had been having lunch at a nearby outdoor café, we noticed an
elderly lady seated across from us who had a brown paper bag with the eyes,
ears, nose and collar with ID tags drawn on it.
This brown paper bag had its own chair across from the lady. I won’t tell you what my reaction was, but
when I saw her and the paper dog waiting in line for a blessing, I realized the
bag represented a once-live dog who had already gone to his or her reward. Apparently the owner was anticipating a
posthumous blessing delivered to the bag.
But back to goats.
The photo didn’t elaborate on what was going on, but since I don’t like
to leave unknown things rattling around in my brain, I subsequently learned
what was going on. I found it stranger
than the blessing of the animals. The following is from the website, “Real
Tenerife”:
At first light the action moves
to the town’s harbour as it becomes the goat’s turn to enjoy the benefits of
the enchanted waters. The clocks of time are turned back as goatherds from the
Orotava Valley drive herds from their hillside pastures through Puerto’s
streets, filling the harbour’s pebble beach with bemused and slightly anxious
looking goats. Goats and water are not compatible bedfellows so the air is soon
filled with tortuous cries as each indignantly protesting creature is dragged
into the water and dunked, before being released to make its solitary journey
back to its nervous looking mates.
Watching herdsmen, and women,
methodically work through their livestock, it’s apparent that they truly believe
that this ritual will benefit their animals; whether anyone actually considers
the water enchanted, who knows, but veteran goatherds claim that the bathing of
the goats results in increased fertility amongst female goats, improving their
chances of falling pregnant and ensuring the continued growth of the herd. The
bigger the herd, the more prosperous the owner; there’s method in this
midsummer madness.
It seems to be more a cultural ritual than anything linked
to a religious ideology. It has longstanding
roots. I am sure it is satisfying to the
resident population, but I personally think it is just weird! Poor longsuffering goats, I say.
But while reading this explanation I recalled a very funny
video I saw on YouTube and, in fact, blogged about several years ago. It seems there is a breed of goats that when
startled or excited exhibit a peculiar reflex of falling over sideways. The owners of this breed of goats say the
reaction is not in the brain but rather is a strange condition that causes
their legs to immediately stiffen to the point they are unable to walk or to
stablilize themselves. The result is
that they splat on the ground sideways.
In a few seconds the spasm stops and they scramble to their feet as if
nothing had happened. It’s not an illness;
it’s just the way these goats are. And
while they don’t lose consciousness, they do look as if they fainted, thus are
called “Fainting goats.”
I couldn’t help but have a good chuckle imagining these
fainting goats being taken down to the ocean to be washed and at the first
splash seeing them keel over in a faint.
To be really funny the shepherds would have to be unfamiliar with this
particular breed!
I don’t know why I am so enchanted by goats. We have several goat farms in our quasi-rural
area, bred mainly for carne de cabra fresca. When we first moved here Jer and I were speculating
on the reason for all the goats, and with our big-city backgrounds we assumed
the owners were selling the goat milk and/or making goat cheese for the
markets. The nearest goat farm to us –
maybe a couple of miles away – was fairly small, and some of the goats were
kept in the front yard. There were “toys”
for them to play on, and even the babies weren’t shy about jumping up on the
roofs of what looked like big dog-houses and standing there to watch the cars
go by. All the momma goats were pregnant;
the babies were simply adorable. Then one day Jerry saw the owner in the front
yard and he stopped to find out more about those funny looking little critters. That’s when he learned they were being raised
for eating, not milking.
I refuse to drive along that route
any more. I just can’t bear looking at
those little guys, knowing what’s in store for them at the end of the day or
the next day. As I have always thought,
it wouldn’t take very much for me to become a vegetarian.
To me, goats are just funny animals,
cute in their own way! They have always
seemed as if they didn’t quite get fully formed – either physically or mentally
- when they were in the design process.
They all have beards, even the she-goats. And they are, IMHO, kooky looking….about on
par with the Affenpinscher dog whose face looks like his tail got stuck in an
electrical outlet and made him look fairly electrified!
Now in case you think you might want
to know a little more about goats, I’m sending you to a list of 100 things you
should know about them. You’d be
surprised how much there is to ponder.
http://www.famu.edu/cesta/main/assets/File/coop_extension/small%20ruminant/goat%20pubs/Facts%20About%20Goats.pdfHave fun!
1 comment:
I will have to learn everything I always wanted to know about goats by checking all this out. Only you, Bobby!
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