Sacred Food： The Divine “Nutrition” in Sacrificial Offerings

Wu+Qiulin

Abstract：

When a particular food is selected to be used in sacrifices， and when this food is given to the people in the name of deities， this action reflects a regionalcultural scenario. After the food has been blessed and offered in the name of the deities， it is said to contain a kind of sacred or divine “nutrition” which is believed blesses the people. Or， it might be said that the sacrifices are presented to the deities as a kind of gift. After the deities have “enjoyed” them， the sacrificial food returns to its original nature—thus， becoming food again. We call this kind of food which is transformed through rituals or food that is given to people in the name of deities “sacred food”. With regard to the anthropology of food， this is an interesting perspective， and it can provide us some interesting revelations， for instances， sacred foods controlling of mans desire for food， or the meaning of “doublenutrition” in sacred food.

Food is the material basis for mans survival. However， unlike animals， instead of taking food simply as “food” for providing energy， humans connect it with their culture， regarding it as an important part of their cultural constitution. In this case， food joins cultural construction and becomes “dietary culture”. The connection between food and faith is also one important part of this. Hence， our understanding of the cultural meaning of sacred food starts with a general study of the culture of food.

Concerning the studies of Chinese food culture， Tan Zhiguo states in his cong wenhua renleixue de jiaodu kan zhongguo yinshi wenhua yanjiu （The Study of Chinese Food Culture as Seen from the Perspective of Cultural Anthropology）， that “Compared with the splendid dietary culture of Chinese food， the research on Chinese food obviously falls behind. Scholars with different academic backgrounds have done relatively deep research on dietary culture， but the studies on Chinese food culture have not yet formed a complete disciplinary system.” It is obvious that we have splendid “eating”， but rarely “study” the reason behind this splendidness. Since the 1990s， research on dietary culture developed in China. It can be roughly divided into the following categories： 1. research on the basic concept of dietary culture； 2. research on the dietary culture in foreign countries； 3. research on the characteristics of Chinese dietary culture； and 4. research on local and ethnic dietary culture.

However， most of the research focuses on the meaning of food culture itself； few studies probe the relationship between food and the divine. If we speak from a broad meaning， we could say that food has a relationship with the culture of faith while talking about the ethnic identy and boundary in dietary culture， but this does not conform to the existence of the broad relationship between food and sacred culture.

Sacred foods are sacrifices， and they are also a kind of food which contain spirituality and the idea of faith. These kinds of food are common foods in daily life， but they are be transformed into sacred food through certain rituals， and express the spirit and idea of the faith in turn. At this moment， an obvious boundary is drawn between them and everyday food. This kind of food has been thoroughly represented in the classic discipline of institutionalized religions.The religious definition of these foods is very clear and direct， and they participate directly in the process of representing the spirit and ideas of the religion. Institutionalized religion mainly refers to those religious organizations which constantly expand and spread throughout the world， and contain “three treasures” （lord god， discipline， religion preaching organization）. They include， for instance， Christianity， Islam， and Buddhism. In these religions， food is also a kind of vehicle for expressing their religious ideas and spirit.

There are also numerous sacred foods in the ethnic folk religion （popular religion）. It is not necessary for us to search for the traces of sacred faith food in the works of religious anthropology， because there are so many sacred foods in my fieldwork on ethnic folk religion. However， the approach for representing of sacred food in ethnic folk religion differs from that of institutionalized religion. Instead of directly marking a certain food as a sacred food in the belief system， the ethnic folk religion transforms the food into sacred food via sacrifice. Therefore， the sacred food in ethnic folk religion is always accompanied by the ritual slaughter of domestic animals.

The sacred food in ethnic folk religion has a double nature—it is food in a more general meaning before being used in a ritual. However， it becomes sacred food via its participation in a certain ritual process. It does not experience any change in its physical nature， but the cultural process gives it a certain conceptual and spiritual meaning. Thus， it contains a double nutrition， i.e. food and sacred power. The former nourishes peoples physical body， and the latter nourishes the spirit， enabling people live within their own cultural meaning. There is no contradiction between the two， i.e. the nutrition and taste of the food has no basic change. However， it is very different in the actual experience. During one of the times I was doing fieldwork， the host served us with a chicken with a strange taste， like residue of chewed wood. Later， someone told me that this chicken had been sacrificed to the deities， so its taste had been “eaten” by the deities. This is unbelievable， but the local Miao people firmly believe that the food that has been sacrificed to the deities has lost its taste. This is because it has been eaten by the deities.

While most sacred food has been stipulated beforehand in the institutionalized religions， the situation in the ethnic folk religions is different—instead of stipulating beforehand， the sacred food in ethnic folk religions has been transformed from some daily food through rituals. Moreover， the food has been given a certain meaning in a certain time， and then， will go back to its own original nature after the rituals. What kind of food can be selected as sacred food in the institutionalized religions？ The selection is closely related to the religions cultural origin. Moreover， the food being selected and the way of eating it always differ. This is also the same in ethnic folk religion， but it seems that the selection of sacred food in ethnic folk religion is connected with peoples means of livelihood， for instances， nomadic people mostly take sheep as their sacrifice； farmers mostly take ox， pigs， chickens as sacrifices. This is very significant. Whatever is the basic food that a group of people lives on， becomes their first choice of sacrifice to the deities. Sacred food reflects the most fundamental conditions and significance of the peoples lives.

Key Words：sacred food； sacrificial offerings； divine； food culture； anthropology of food

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