By Eben van Tonder, 10 March 2025
Introduction
The ancient practices of blessing and celebrating preserved meats—such as those observed in the Easter traditions of Austria—bear a striking resemblance to the Inuit festival of Quviasukvik, where fermented and preserved meats played a central role. This parallel reflects a broader phenomenon among northern societies, where meat preservation was not only a critical survival technology but also carried ritual and cultural significance. These traditions may point to a pan-northern culture in which meat preservation, particularly through curing and fermentation, was at the center of midwinter religious celebrations marking the end of scarcity and the return of life. The emphasis on preserved meats, rather than fresh, symbolizes not only survival through winter but also humanity’s mastery over time, nature, and decay.
Meat Preservation Celebrations in Northern Cultures
In northern societies, meat preservation was an essential adaptation to long, harsh winters and periods when hunting was difficult. These preservation techniques were not only practical but were bound up with ritual meaning and symbolized the community’s mastery over time, decay, and survival. The processes of salting, smoking, fermenting, burial preservation, and storage under fat were highly developed in these regions and often held sacred significance.
Inuit Traditions: Quviasukvik and Fermented Meats
Among the Inughuit of northwestern Greenland, the midwinter festival known as Quviasukvik marked the return of the sun and the beginning of a new year. One of the most important elements of the festival was the communal sharing of preserved meats, specifically igunaq and kiviaq. These foods were not merely practical stores but deeply symbolic offerings that reaffirmed social cohesion and humanity’s bond with the spirit world.
How the Inughuit Preserved Meat
The Inughuit preserved meat using anaerobic fermentation processes. For igunaq, walrus or seal meat was butchered in the summer, placed in seal skin pouches or buried in shallow pits dug into the permafrost, where it underwent fermentation. The pits were lined with stone or compacted earth to provide a consistent anaerobic environment, and the skins were often sealed with fat to keep out oxygen. Lactic acid bacteria proliferated, lowering the pH and preventing dangerous bacterial growth (Laugrand & Oosten, 2010).
Kiviaq was produced by stuffing hundreds of small seabirds, little auks (Alle alle), whole—feathers, beaks, and all—into the hollowed-out body cavity of a seal. The seal skin was sewn shut and coated with seal fat to create an airtight seal, then buried under rocks to prevent scavenging and ensure pressure. Over months, fermentation occurred within the sealed environment, with internal bacteria converting the flesh into a soft, high-fat preserved food (Fitzhugh & Kaplan, 1982).
Symbolism of Preserved Meat in Inuit Culture
The Inughuit viewed fermentation and preservation not only as technological feats but also as spiritual acts. Laugrand and Oosten (2010) note that the burial of meat in the earth was considered a transformative act, echoing shamanic themes of death and rebirth. By placing the meat beneath the ground—into the body of Sedna, the goddess of the sea and the underworld—they symbolically returned it to the realm of spirits, from which life could be called back again. When the fermented meat was unearthed and consumed during Quviasukvik, it was believed to restore vitality and renew the bond with animal spirits, whose flesh had been honored through preservation rather than waste.
Fitzhugh and Kaplan (1982) highlight the cosmological dimension of kiviaq in Inughuit society. The act of fermenting entire birds inside a seal skin and burying them reflected the cyclical relationship between death and life. The seal and the birds were ritually enclosed, symbolically placed in a womb-like space, from which new life—or life-sustaining food—would emerge. This process was understood as a symbolic resurrection at the darkest point of the year.
Nuttall (1998) emphasizes that the communal consumption of fermented meat at Quviasukvik reaffirmed kinship networks and spiritual obligations to both human and animal communities. The preserved meat was a testament to human foresight and mastery over an unforgiving environment, but also an acknowledgment of spiritual reciprocity, maintaining balance with the natural world.
The act of preserving meat was also a celebration of survival. The Inughuit saw their capacity to preserve and store food for the winter as a sign of their success in overcoming nature’s harshness. Laugrand and Oosten (2010) describe how this mastery over food preservation translated into a sense of control over life itself—a cultural expression of human dominance over the deadly cycles of famine and scarcity.
Celtic Traditions: Samhain and Preserved Meats
In ancient Celtic societies, Samhain marked the end of the harvest season and the onset of winter. Livestock were culled at this time, and their meat preserved through dry-salting, smoke-curing, or bog burial. These methods allowed survival through winter and became central to midwinter feasts, which served both practical and ceremonial functions.
How the Celts Preserved Meat
Celtic communities employed several preservation methods. One of the most notable was bog preservation, where joints of meat—sometimes entire hams—were wrapped in skins or bladders and buried in peat bogs. The bogs provided an anaerobic, cold, acidic environment that prevented spoilage. Dry-salting and cold smoking were also widely practiced. Meat was salted using rock or sea salt, often applied heavily and rubbed in over time. Cold smoking was done in smokehouses, where meat was exposed to smoke for weeks or even months, adding antimicrobial compounds like phenols to the flesh (Kelly, 2006).
Symbolism of Preserved Meat in Celtic Ritual
Kelly (2006) argues that the consumption of preserved meat at Samhain feasts represented more than simple sustenance. The act of eating meat that had “survived death” and decay symbolized life’s victory over death, a recurring theme in Celtic cosmology. The community, by mastering time through preservation, asserted its survival in a season associated with death and barrenness.
Hutton (1996) notes that bog preservation practices, where meat was wrapped in skins and buried in the acidic, cold, and anaerobic conditions of peat bogs, were not just pragmatic but held ritual significance. The earth was believed to have purifying powers, and bogs in particular were regarded as liminal spaces between worlds. Burying meat in these locations may have been seen as entrusting the flesh to the earth spirits, who would protect and transform it into something sacred and life-sustaining.
Green (1992) highlights the death-and-rebirth symbolism in these practices. Just as seeds were planted in the earth to return as crops, so too was the flesh of animals entrusted to the earth, to be brought forth again, purified and transformed into a communal blessing during the darkest part of the year.
This mastery over meat preservation was itself a reason for celebration. Celtic societies saw their ability to preserve life in the form of food as an achievement that demonstrated control over nature’s cycles. Green (1992) underscores how this sense of dominion over time and death was likely translated into the ritual feasting at Samhain.
Scandinavian Traditions: Blót and Preserved Meats
The blót ceremonies of pre-Christian Scandinavia were sacrificial feasts held at key times of the year, particularly at Yule, where preserved meats often took center stage. Though modern imagery emphasizes fresh slaughter, evidence suggests that pit-preserved, salt-cured, and fat-encased meats were integral to these feasts.
How the Scandinavians Preserved Meat
Mikkelsen (2016) provides archaeological evidence of lined preservation pits, sometimes constructed with stone slabs or wooden planks, which were used to store meat in anaerobic conditions. The pits were often lined with birch bark or grasses to absorb moisture and prevent contamination. Some cuts of meat were lightly salted before burial, though in colder regions, freezing temperatures negated the need for salting during pit storage.
Hansson (1997) emphasizes that submerging meat in rendered animal fat, following slaughter at winter’s onset, created an anaerobic seal similar to confit preservation. This practice, combined with cold storage pits, allowed meat to be stored safely for months.
Symbolism of Pit Preservation in Scandinavian Ritual
Andrén (2013) argues that burial practices in meat preservation reflected broader spiritual beliefs about the earth as both womb and tomb. The pit was a liminal space, mirroring burial customs for the dead, but rather than death being the end, it became the space where life was preserved and transformed. Meat “returned from the pit” at Yule symbolized life restored, and its communal sharing during blót reinforced the power of cyclical renewal.
Price (2002) supports this view, suggesting that feasting on pit-preserved meat was a celebration of human mastery over time and nature, but also a tribute to the powers of the earth. The ritual act of retrieving meat from its “grave” for midwinter feasting closely parallels burial and resurrection motifs that were later incorporated into Christian theology.
The Domesticated Cattle Problem: Why Mass Slaughtering Occurred in Winter
An additional reason for the mass slaughter of livestock in northern regions—such as Styria and throughout Europe—was the difficulty of maintaining herds through harsh winters. Domesticated cattle, derived from the wild aurochs (Bos primigenius), had lost much of their ancestral hardiness. Unlike the aurochs, which thrived in wild, diverse landscapes and could forage on marginal vegetation even in winter, domesticated breeds required human-provided fodder, shelter, and care.
During winter, feed such as hay and grains became scarce, and the labor of maintaining livestock increased dramatically. Fodder production was limited by both the short growing season and the agricultural methods of the time. Therefore, farmers reduced their herds to a manageable size at the start of winter, slaughtering surplus animals in late autumn and preserving their meat for consumption throughout the season (Kelly, 2006; Benecke, 1994).
The need to cull herds reinforced the social and ritual importance of midwinter meat feasts. Benecke (1994) argues that these culls—and the resulting surplus of meat for preservation—were not purely economic but were culturally and spiritually framed as a way of ensuring community survival through the “dark half” of the year. This necessity gave rise to festivals that combined practical food distribution with ceremonies reaffirming social cohesion and the hope for renewal.
Christian Adaptation: Burial, Resurrection, and Easter Meat Blessings
As Christianity spread through Europe, it absorbed and reinterpreted these deeply rooted traditions. The burial of meat in pits and its ritualized consumption during midwinter festivals found new life in Christian symbolism, particularly in the death and resurrection motif of Christ.
Hutton (1996) and van Tonder (2024) suggest that Christian communities in Central Europe reimagined these practices as part of Easter celebrations, where cured and smoked meats were blessed and consumed following Lent. The return of preserved meat after a season of fasting paralleled the resurrection narrative, with the meat emerging from the tomb (earth or pit) as a symbol of renewed life and divine grace.
Frazer (1922), in The Golden Bough, draws attention to seasonal festivals celebrating renewed life after winter, noting that the symbolism of meat preservation and resurrection is consistent across Indo-European cultures. The Christian three-day burial of Christ and his resurrection align with older seasonal death-rebirth cycles celebrated with the retrieval of preserved foods at midwinter.
Conclusion: Preserved Meat as a Pan-Northern Sacred Tradition
What emerges from this exploration is a pan-northern tradition in which preserved meat served as a symbol of survival, renewal, and the community’s bond with nature and the divine. Across the Inughuit, Celts, and Scandinavians, meat was buried, preserved, and later resurrected, not just as sustenance, but as a powerful symbol of continuity.
This reverence for preserved meat found new expression in Christianity, where the ritual blessing and communal consumption of cured meat, particularly at Easter, became a celebration of life triumphing over death—a continuation of ancient traditions reinterpreted for a new spiritual age.
References
Andrén, A. (2013). The Significance of Places: The Christianization of Scandinavia from a Spatial Point of View. World Archaeology, 45(1), 27–45.
Benecke, N. (1994). Der Mensch und seine Haustiere: Die Geschichte der Haustierhaltung vom Beginn bis zur Gegenwart. Theiss Verlag.
Carmichael, A. (1900). Carmina Gadelica: Hymns and Incantations. T. and A. Constable.
Fitzhugh, W. W., & Kaplan, S. A. (1982). Inua: Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo. Smithsonian Institution Press.
Frazer, J. G. (1922). The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. Macmillan.
Green, M. (1992). Symbol and Image in Celtic Religious Art. Routledge.
Hansson, A. (1997). Prehistoric Sausage: Some Evidence from the Nordic Countries. In C. K. F. & A. F. Harding (Eds.), Food and Drink in Archaeology. Prospect Books.
Hutton, R. (1996). The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford University Press.
Kelly, F. (2006). Early Irish Farming: A Study Based Mainly on the Law-Texts of the 7th and 8th Centuries AD. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
Laugrand, F., & Oosten, J. (2010). Inuit Shamanism and Christianity: Transitions and Transformations in the Twentieth Century. McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Mikkelsen, M. (2016). Pit Preservation and Feasting in Iron Age Scandinavia: A Reassessment. Journal of Northern Archaeology, 50(2), 93–111.
Nuttall, M. (1998). Protecting the Arctic: Indigenous Peoples and Cultural Survival. Routledge.
Price, N. (2002). The Viking Way: Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia. Uppsala University.
van Tonder, E. (2024). The Historical Origins, Symbolism, and Easter Traditions of Cured Meats: The Ritual of Meat Blessing in Christian Europe. Earthworm Express.