RELIGION & SALT


- Sacrifice - Embalming - Rites & Rituals - Kosher - Slaughter __________________________________________________

Sodium salt solution has a desiccating effect of attracting water from the animal tissues since the salt solution water pressure is considerably lower than the tissue liquids. In effect osmosis. The result was to dehydrate the meat to a point where no bacteria could grow and cause decomposition of the meat. The required salt solution for cheese and butter, is 2%, 6% for meat, and 20% for fish. For this additional use of salt, for the preservation of meat, the daily individual consumption of salt could be as high as 100 g per day. Jewish "KASHRUT" [health] laws, involve the dehydration of meat for its preservation, or the draining of all liquids including blood from the carcass. The requirement in ancient times, and to this day, was to prevent the meat from deteriorating, so that it could be kept long enough, to allow its gradual consumption over a period of time after the slaughter of the animal.

Kosher salt crystal


Kosher salt crystals have large surface areas and large crystal form

What is Koshering ?
Deuteronomy 15:3 Excluded are those species "that only chew the cud, or them that only have the hoof cloven: the camel and the hare...because they chew the cud, but part not the hoof...and the swine, because he parteth the hoof, but cheweth not the cud."
Deuteronomy 15:21 " Thou shalt nor seethe a kid in its mother's milk."
Deuteronomy 14:21 " Ye shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself.
Deuteronomy 15:23 "Thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it on the ground as water."

Draining the carcass, of the blood, was a relatively easy process, and most of the blood could be drawn off intwo stages:



# G
ravity drainage . This is known as "hanafesh" inJewish law
    However the remaining body liquids in the tissues could only be drawn off     by an:
#
Osmotic effect, - by increasing the liquid pressure, with salt, either with solid salt crystals, or by soaking in a concentrated brine, and attracting the remaining liquids with a pressure difference, very similar to the process our own bodies employ to retain the required ratio between salt and water.

There are a number of ways of achieving this preservation. The dehydration process includes soaking the carcass in a "natrum" brine [ salt solution] or washing the carcass with salt brine, or placing the carcass in a bed of salt crystals. Other methods involved, for example the 'anointing' of oils, and "broiling" with vinegar and water, to 'seal' the carcass, if complete drainage was not possible. The process of dehydration was well known to most ancient civilisations, and although the 'salt' process was not exclusive to all communities, it was recognised as the easiest and the most efficient, provided that salt was in good supply.

The preparation and the concentration of the salinity of the brines, was not so easy and it required a sophisticated water supply and a drainage system.
A typical example of such a system designed for this purpose was Hezekiah's centralising of an hygenic hydraulic system in the Temple in Jerusalem, from a fresh water source, the Gihon spring, amongst others, into a resevoir called the Pool of Siloam [Shiloach] The water was cleverly directed through the Temple by gravity, and exiting the Temple as waste at the southern side. 2000 ritual baths were reputed to have been available in the Temple, with a hydraulic circuit for feeding and draining the baths and reslurrying the salt.

Embalming

Herodotus describes the process of "Mumification" by the ancient Egyptians, for the most part, " laying the body in a natrum bath for at least 70 days". One might assume that in Egypt this process became a standard procedure, so much so that it was taken for granted, both for burial procedures and for slaughter meat dehydration and consumption.


These two "industrie" alone would have required considerable quantites of salt [NaCl].. in addition to leather tanning, and tinder, etc.

The Egyption salt manufacturing facilities were mainly situated in the Nile "Delta" and typically produced salt, not unlike similar salt production units around the world today, by solar evaporation.


The sea brines were directed in to solar evaporation pans, gradually increasing the concentration , until the brine reached a point of preciptation. The salt crystals were then raked up off the floor of the pan into piles that lookedvery much like "pyramids" and due to the consistent angle of "repose" were easy to measure volumetrically.

To increase the production capacity of the solar pans, and to produce a purer salt, "straws" [hebrew :'kane'] were planted in the shallow brines. The "damp". straws were ideal for nucleation of the salt crystals, which, exposed to the sun, grew quickly and "mushroomed" into pure [white] salt briquets.

. _

JEWISH SALT technology [during Egyptian bondage]

The production of these "Levanim" [white salt briquettes] was probably the responsibility of the Jewish "slaves",who lived in bondage in the Nile Delta, and who relied on a supply of "straw" from the harvest. A bad harvest meant no straw to make the salt bricks

The King James bible - Exodus 5
Levanim and 'straw' bricks [levan:hebrew:=white]
5 And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now
[are] many, and ye make them rest from their burdens.
6 And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people,
and their officers, saying,
7 Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore : let them go and gather straw for themselves.
8 And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish [ought] thereof for they [be] idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go [and] sacrifice to our God
9 Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein;
and let them not regard vain words.
10 And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers,
and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh,
I will not give you straw
11 Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: yet not ought of your work
shall be diminished.
12 So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of
Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw.
13 And the taskmasters hasted [them], saying, Fulfil your works,
[your] daily tasks, as when there was straw
14 And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh's taskmasters
had set over them, were beaten, [and] demanded, Wherefore have ye not
fulfilled your task in
making brick both yesterday and to day, as heretofore?

The salt production technique used
by the Jews in the Nile Delta evaporation
pans was a simple one.

Crystallisation of salt in solar pans, in hot
climates, occured naturally, at the surface
of the brine.
The crystals first formed float, until they
become soaked - since the surface brine
reaches saturation point before the cooler
lower layers. Additional crystals grow
beside these crystals partially submerged,
rather than below them, or above them, thus
a typical "funnel" or wedge form takes shape.
The specific gravity of a Sodium Chloride
crystal is 2.16. and the saturated brine at 25 C contains 26.7% salt. and has a specific gravity
of 1.2004. At 15 C a saturated solution may
contain 26.5% salt, and has a specific
gravity 1.203. Hence a solution saturated at
a higher temperature is specifically
lighter, even though it contains a greater
quantity of salt. It is this explanation that
allowed salt makers to crystallise "blocks" or
briquettes of salt on the surfaces of ponds,
using floating elements such as sticks and
straws to form the crusts of salt.
.
It should
be noted that with most other substances,
crystallisation can not occur at the the
solution surface because their solubility
increases more rapidly than their specific gravity decreases.

Thus a geometric form floating on the surface of the pan brine, or planted vertically in the shallow brine, enabled crystallisation to occur, encrusting the floating form, with salt on the brine surfaceStar of David forms floating

Such geometric forms , mostly made of straws, or sticks, were most efficient when constructed to allow the salt to crystallise over a large area yet not be influenced by wind and waves. These geometric forms were mainly crosses or squares with diagonal or tangental struts to strengthen the form. The most popular form of straw construction with the greatest surface area and strength, was the "Star of David".

Since salt making of this kind occurred well before most of today's religions developed, it is quite reasonable to assume that the Jews and their particular interest in salt and "kashrut" hygene, later used the star form also as a symbolright



The star of David used to crystallise salt in salt pans in Mexico, La Concordia - from "Maya Salt Production and Trade - Antony P. Andrews " courtesy Gertrude Blom.
The dictates of "Kashrut" law have confined Jews to living
within a proximity of salt sources, and it is not a
coincidence, that down the ages Jewish communities
have always been close to salt supplies, or salt trading
routes, nor is it coincidence that Jews have always been
directly connected with the those allied industries involving
uses of salt, such as tanning and leather and many more.

Herodotus reveals the secret of the Egyptian 'mummies' - Not less than 70 days soaking in a Natrum' bath.

Was this a Jewish technology -- The same process used for dehydrating meat to Kosher standards ?


MITHRAISM

- under construction

Mithraism - the slaughter of the bull

"Mithraism - the slaughter of the bull"

Mithraism was very much a cult for Roman soldiers, who possibly spent their "salarium" in return for salted meat after the rituals.

ROMAN GODDESS "Salus" - of - "Health" Health, represented by the serpent.- Salus in Roman religion, the goddess of safety and welfare, later identified with the Greek Hygieia . Her temple on the Quirinal at Rome, dedicated in 302 BC, was the scene of an annual sacrifice on August 5.

CATHOLIC SALT

Always used for the seasoning of food and for the preservation of things from corruption, had from very early days a sacred and religious character. The Prophet Eliseus employed it to make palatable the waters of a well (IV Kings, ii, 19 sqq.). The Orientals used it to cleanse and harden the skin of a newborn child (Ezech., xvi, 4); by strewing salt on a piece of land they dedicated it to the gods; in the Jewish Law it was prescribed for the sacrifices and the loaves of proposition (Lev., ii, 13). In Matthew 5:13, salt symbolizes wisdom, though perhaps originally it had an exorcistic signification.
Its use in the Church belongs exclusively to the Roman Rite. The Ritual knows two kinds of salt for liturgical purposes, the baptismal salt and the blessed salt. The former, cleansed and sanctified by special exorcisms and prayers, is given to the catechumen before entering church for baptism. According to the fifth canon of the Third Council of Carthage it would seem that salt was administered to the catechumens several times a year. This use of salt is attested by St. Augustine (Conf., I. 1, c. xi) and by John the Deacon. St. Isidore of Seville speaks of it (De off., II, xxi), but in the Spanish Church it was not universal. The other salt is exorcized and blessed in the preparation of holy water for the Asperges before high Mass on Sunday and for the use of the faithful in their homes. The present formula of blessing is taken from the Gregorian Sacramentary (P.L., LXXVIII, 231). Both baptismal salt and blessed salt may be used again without a new benediction. The appendix of the Roman Ritual has a blessing of salt for the use of animals and another in honour of St. Hubert. The Roman Pontifical orders salt to be blessed and mixed in the water (mixed in turn with ashes and wine) for the consecration of a church. This is also from the Gregorian Sacramentary. Again salt (not specially blessed) may be used for purifying the fingers after sacred unctions. FRANCIS MERSHMAN Transcribed by Charlie Martin from the Catholic Encyclopedia

Bibliography for RELIGION - ROMARCH Archives romarch.gif

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MRBLOCH ARCHIVE, is researching the significance, of SALT [NaCl] through the period 1000 BC . up to the Industrial Revolution.

For detailed references of statements made here, or Bibliography- Please mail:

David Bloch - mblsalt@ibm.net.

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