Lord of the Flies

"'Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!'"- William Golding, Lord of the Flies, Ch. 7

I have learned a lot during my New Zealand experience. I've grown some. I've definitely become more liberal. Taboo subjects aren't so taboo anymore. (It's bound to happen with 28 girls) And playing with a dead pig isn't so disgusting.

For my Family Recreation 301 class we had to do a class project. We chose to do a hangi on March 29, Saturday. Hangi: noun. a lot of food for a lot of people. Katie Paxton headed up the food commitee and I took the game commitee. Thanks to Katie's awesome planning we were able to make a lot of food for a lot of people. I must have minced twenty onions for the stuffing. We had kumura and pumpkin and steamed pudding.

And pig.

Two pigs.

And we butchered them ourselves.

You know those scenes in movies when they bring in a blackened, cooked pig on a platter with an apple in it's mouth? Yeah, well we made one of those. The smaller pig was used for the umu. (That's when you cook the pig above ground.) First you roll the dead pig around in the fire to singe off all the fur and then you scrape off all the singed hair. After the blood was drained from the pig we cut a square in it's belly and pulled out the guts. You have to be careful to tie the butt off so that poo doesn't come out. Out came the stentch along with the intestines, spleen, liver, and stomach. You have to really pull hard to get the lungs and heart. I held the liver and touched the stomach. To cook the meat inside the pig you put a hot rock down into the pig's throat. I heard the muscle tissue sizzle when we stuffed it in. Then you do the same thing in the body cavity and then follow the rocks with cabbage.

The other pig was significantly larger. The difference with the gib pig is that you butcher it and stick it in tin baskets underground. We chopped the head off and I held it. (Pictures just might have to wait until I get to the States) Then Stefanie Tanner, Katie Jo and I played with the little piggie feet. We did dancing with them like you would with a Barbie doll. Then we gave each other high-hooves and played the slapping game. I had blood all over me.

Four hours later we ate the meat from the pigs. The branch members and homestay families all ate until they couldn't move.


The highlight of the evening might have been the variety show. Sister George did some polynesian dancing for us. (She's from the Cook Islands). The primary, young women, and single adults all did some polyneisan dancing. Some BYU students did a poi ball dance they learned. Something happened and I ended up being in four acts. I played the guitar ("Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and it was a big hit), then did a "synchronized" dancing routine with Cameron and Tyler with a balloon in my hood so no one could see or breathe, a magic show with Katie Jo, and then I did a joke off with the audience, thanks to Ben. (Chase was actually a really good emcee)

We all got some good laughing in and I was happy to share my talent and see others do the same.

"'after all we aren't savages really...'"- William Golding, Lord of the Flies, Ch. 11