The divine bovine
Even though beef is widely consumed in Taiwan, oxen and buffalo are still animals with spiritual significance and certain taboos
By Han Cheung / Staff reporter
Eating beef was once so taboo in Taiwanese society that a traditional idiom warned that doing so would damn one’s soul to hell. Old people also warned children that consuming beef would make them stupid.
The prohibition made sense when Taiwan was a predominantly agricultural society since oxen and buffalo were integral to farming, and people refrained from eating them out of respect just like they do with dogs today.
Some farmers still feel this way. In 2019, photographer Tsai Meng-hsing (蔡孟興) captured a tear-jerking moment when an old man kissed his long-time ox companion goodbye. The man had turned down multiple offers to sell the animal for meat, and finally decided to send him to a “retirement home” for bovines to live out its life peacefully.
康友、淘帝恐怕不是最後一家!散戶避開KY股地雷,最好盯緊這個重大線索-風傳媒
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散戶怎樣避開 KY 股地雷?「財報數據」是重大線索
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