When you are moving to a new culture, expect the unexpected! Sometimes we encounter cultural issues that we would never have dreamed of in our passport countries. That certainly includes the treatment of animals.
Take, for example, man’s best friend. How differently cultures perceive dogs! When I was growing up in Iowa, we had always had dogs as family pets. We didn’t coddle them or dress them up like Barbie Dolls, but they were certainly treasured members of the family. My first exposure to a different set of cultural norms came when I moved to South India as a short-term English teacher. The first night there I was awakened by shouts and shrieks as the gateman and night watchmen at our school chased a stray dog that had entered our school compound. I was horrified to see them bludgeon the dog to death on the spot. The next morning our Indian headmistress explained to me that they had to do that because stray dogs were unclean and might endanger the health of the children living at the school.
Three years later when I was ready to move to North Sumatra, the same headmistress was appalled that I would soon be living in an area of Indonesia where dogs were eaten. “Savagery” she called it. Dog-lovers would undoubtedly agree. Since dog meat was considered a delicacy among the Batak people of North Sumatra, we had to be very protective of our pets to make sure they didn’t wind up in somebody’s supper pot.
I found it a bit easier when I later moved down an island to teach at a university in Central Java. The Javanese do not eat dogs. Neither do Muslims, regardless of where they may live. For Muslims, dogs are unclean, should not be touched, and are unfit for consumption. Students at our university who hailed from North Sumatra, Manado, or Sumba did eat them, though, and any dog roaming the streets of our town was meat on the hoof.
The other night my husband lamented that dog meat was being sold at our local church bazaar. Our niece from the Indonesian island of Sumba wheeled about in delight. “Really?” she asked. What bothered us as dog-lovers had set her mouth to watering.
Despite its popularity, I have never had the desire to try dog meat any more than a Jew or Muslim would want to try pork. One man’s meat, as they say, is another man’s poison – or in our case, our best friend!
Take, for example, man’s best friend. How differently cultures perceive dogs! When I was growing up in Iowa, we had always had dogs as family pets. We didn’t coddle them or dress them up like Barbie Dolls, but they were certainly treasured members of the family. My first exposure to a different set of cultural norms came when I moved to South India as a short-term English teacher. The first night there I was awakened by shouts and shrieks as the gateman and night watchmen at our school chased a stray dog that had entered our school compound. I was horrified to see them bludgeon the dog to death on the spot. The next morning our Indian headmistress explained to me that they had to do that because stray dogs were unclean and might endanger the health of the children living at the school.
Three years later when I was ready to move to North Sumatra, the same headmistress was appalled that I would soon be living in an area of Indonesia where dogs were eaten. “Savagery” she called it. Dog-lovers would undoubtedly agree. Since dog meat was considered a delicacy among the Batak people of North Sumatra, we had to be very protective of our pets to make sure they didn’t wind up in somebody’s supper pot.
I found it a bit easier when I later moved down an island to teach at a university in Central Java. The Javanese do not eat dogs. Neither do Muslims, regardless of where they may live. For Muslims, dogs are unclean, should not be touched, and are unfit for consumption. Students at our university who hailed from North Sumatra, Manado, or Sumba did eat them, though, and any dog roaming the streets of our town was meat on the hoof.
The other night my husband lamented that dog meat was being sold at our local church bazaar. Our niece from the Indonesian island of Sumba wheeled about in delight. “Really?” she asked. What bothered us as dog-lovers had set her mouth to watering.
Despite its popularity, I have never had the desire to try dog meat any more than a Jew or Muslim would want to try pork. One man’s meat, as they say, is another man’s poison – or in our case, our best friend!