Pig tooth amulets

I made a necklace out of my pig Sergei's tusk. This is only perhaps half of his tusk - it broke off at one point.

Wild boar tusks have been worn as hunting trophies since ancient times wherever boars have been hunted. They symbolize power and manliness, since boars with their intelligence, strength and willpower are very difficult and dangerous to hunt (even in the age of rifles). In New Guinea, domestic pig teeth are a symbol of men's wealth - the more you have in your necklace, the more important you are. (See what I've written previously about pigs in New Guinea.)

But boar and pig teeth have also been used as magic charms. Those who have read or seen Howard's End will remember that there is primeval symbolism in the form of a wych elm tree, in which the countryfolk have stuck pig's teeth, so that you can chew on the bark to relieve toothache.

Britain and North America: tusks and toothache

In his 1947 book Ozark Superstitions, Vance Randolph gives a study of superstitions among the in his words most superstitious people in the United States. He met a man in McDonald county, Missouri, who kept the blind tooth (the hindmost upper molar) of a pig that he gave his children to wear around their neck whenever they had a toothache. A boar's tusk was believed by others to have the same effect when worn in your pocket; if the toothache was on the right side, you would wear it in your right pocket, and vice versa if it was on the left side. The boar's tooth supposedly also protects against venereal diseases. (The book also accounts of people during the Civil War who believed that seeing a "monstrous black hog" was a death omen, but that belongs in another post ...)

The Journal of American Folklore Vol. 4, No. 13 (Apr. - Jun., 1891), featured an article on "The Amulet Collection of Professor Belucci". Among the hundreds of items it lists: "36. Aids in dentition of infants, five objects. Pig's tooth, bone."

Straightdope.com ("Fighting Ignorance since 1973") explains how in the origins of the tooth fairy, there are pigs: "If an animal eats a lost baby tooth, the new teeth coming in will supposedly resemble that animal's such as a dog's tooth or pig's tooth. Letting the tooth be eaten by mice or rats will ensure that the child grows strong, sharp teeth (such folk rituals were recorded as late as 1929)."

South and Central Asia: tusks and the evil eye

Charles Godfrey Leland in 1891 popularized "Gypsy lore" in his book on Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune Telling. "The pig, as is well known, is a common amulet, the origin thereof being that it is extremely prolific", he writes. Boar's teeth "are regarded as protective against malocchio--a general term for evil influences--especially for women during pregnancy, and as securing plenty, i.e., prosperity and increase, be it of worldly goods, honour, or prosperity."

The amulet on the left is from Vienna. (An illustration from Leland's book.)

On the website All About Sikhs, you can read about similar superstitions among Punjabi peasants: "Eating pork or wearing the teeth of a pig round the neck protects a person from the evil eye and witchcraft. [...] Some women make their children wear round their neck nazarbattus (protectors from the evil eye), [to protect from the evil eye], or sometimes for the same purpose hang pig's teeth round their neck."

Turkmen people, despite being Muslims, raise pigs. (V.G. Moshkova in her study The Tribal Gol in Turkmen Carpets, mentions a specific pattern called dunguz burun, 'pig's snout'.)
In Turkmen wedding traditions, "to escape alien eyes the bride wore a cape covering her head along with amulets and charms which were believed to possess guarding forces. All kinds of wedding clothes had a thread from a camel's wool, a pig's tooth, silver plates, beads with "eyes" fastened to them; the cape was furnished with a sawn-on triangular pouch with coal and salt inside (some nations believe that salt has guarding properties)."

These are only two kinds of boar and pig tooth related superstitions, and I'm sure there are more in other cultures of the world. (Voodoo, perhaps?)

Pigs in the Pergamon Museum

Today I visited the Pergamon Museum here in Berlin. Of course, I scanned all the exhibits searching for pig motifs, and I indeed found a few.

I apologise for the bad quality of some (most) of the photos. Bad lighting conditions, no flash, handheld camera, crappy white balance, and all that.



Above: Double vessel in the form of two little pigs, Assyria, 8th/7th century BCE. They are likely to be domestic pigs, which makes them quite interesting - pigs didn't seem to be all that common in Assyrian arts and crafts. And is there some particular meaning behind the double shape?



Above and below: Boar's head, Babylon, 1st century BCE/year 12 of Nebukadnezar II. It's hard to tell what exact meaning the boar might have in this case.



Below: This piece was described only collectively as one of a number of "riders and animal figures", but it can hardly be anything but a boar. 2nd-1st century BCE, Babylon. The hairiness of the pig suggests that it's likely to be a wild boar.





Below: An object from Luristan, a province in western Iran inhabited by nomadic tribes. These objects are usually offerings from graves. Somewhere between 8th/7th - mid-3rd century BCE. I'm not sure about its function. The similar piece with a deer above it and the nomadic culture of its makers suggest a hunting theme.



Below: A wall relief plate with a jumping boar, Iraq (Ktesiphon area), 7th-6th century. From the intrados of a house in Umm az-Za'âtir. I'm guessing this piece is related to hunting, as well.



Below: Hunting bowl with a Sassanid great king attacked by a boar, Iran, 7th century. Silver, partly gilded. The wild boar as a dangerous adversary. Of course, the king will be victorious in the end ...



Below: A seal stone (to the left) with a wild boar and Pahlavi inscription, Iran, 5th-6th century. To the right is an enlarged image of its impression. I wish I knew what the incription says.

Boar tattoos

I have a tattoo of a boar in some kind of fake-medieval Russian style. I got it because the wild boar is something like my totem animal. To me, wild boars have always been brave, strong, straightforward and - not least - feared and hated. As with wolves, European hunters in the previous centuries would orchestrate mass slaughters of wild boars, telling themselves that the boars were embodiments of Satan. Hunters generally fear boars, because they are very dangerous to hunt due to their strength and intelligence.

I've so far only once had the privilege of encountering boars in the wild. I was camping with my boyfriend at the time in the very sparsely populated hills of Macini in eastern Romania. The low forests on the hillsides were full of boar's paths. In the night, we heard a fairly large herd of wild boars walk by in the forest near our tent. They were grunting and uffing and clearly discussing our presence ...

I'm certainly not the only one with a boar tattoo. This is how tattoobody.org gives a (very basic) explanation of the symbolism behind boar tattoos:

"Unlike the PIG, the boar has been a companion to the warrior. In the wild, the boar is an aggressive animal and unrelenting in its attack. Norse warriors would use the image of the boar for decorative purposes as well as its actual teeth for various forms of adornment. In ancient Japan the war god himself was sometimes depicted as a boar. It was a sacred animal for the Celts for whom it symbolized military strength and goodness."

Illustrations from top to bottom:
1. My tattoo, inked by Pete at Exotic Tattoo in Lund, Sweden, in 2001. I modified the design myself from an illustration in a Russian children's book on history, and Pete added the gray shades.
2. Osaya's tattoo. Follow the link and you'll see a photo collage on how it was made.
3. Jay's pictish boar tattoo. Jay says: "I think it goes well with my kilt."
4. An Asian-inspired tattoo design with a moon, an owl, a gingko tree and a Chinese sage riding a boar, by Josh Roelink from Tatudharma in Sydney. Via DesignHub.

More:

mpiette83 has a cool tattoo of a warthog on his chest.

WeAreTheEnglish.com entertain Anglo-Saxon nationalism, and also traditional tattoo designs, including boars. They write: "Of all the animal symbols that were revered by the Anglo-Saxons it is quite possibly the Boar that was revered above all others. It was used as a symbol of protection and because of this it can often be found on Saxon War Helmets. In the old English epic poem Beowulf you can read about warriors going into battle with Boar crested helmets and many have been found buried at English archeology sites. It was believed that the image of the boar would bring protection to its wearer at times of war and they would be infused by its strength, power and ferocity. The boar was also closely connected to the Anglo-Saxon god Ingui. As well as the protection offered by the image of the boar, at times of battle those wearing this symbol believed that Ingui would watch over and protect them above all others."

Okay, I saved the best for last. Or, rather, I only came across it a couple of days later, by chance. On the left are reproductions of tattoos of Russian criminals, found on vne3akona.narod.ru. Fig. 47 is a boar, and the caption goes like this:

"A wild boar or its head - a tattoo used by female criminals, who have spent a prolonged time in prison and engage in lesbian love. The wild boar is a symbol of power and masculinity, and a woman with this tattoo has taken on the role of the man."

In other words, I have a classic butch tattoo.

Scythian boar imagery

Today I was at the recently opened exhibition "Under the Sign of the Golden Griffin - The Royal Tombs of the Scythians" in the Martin-Gropius-Bau. I somehow imagined that photographing would not be permitted, so there I was with my drawing pad while everyone else was taking tons of pictures of the exhibits with their digicams and phones. Oh well, maybe I'll go there another time with my camera.

Most of the exhibits were extremely elaborate metal works that had been well preserved in graves and other sites. A lot of the designs had animal motifs: most commonly horses, which were essential in the Scythian lifestyle, and deer, which probably were the most common and/or popular prey of Scythian hunters, but there were also motifs of other animals, like moose, tigers, fish, wolves, eagles, roosters, etc., depending a bit on the fauna of the region of their origin. Of course, I kept an eye out for images of boars.

The two first sketches are adornments on horse bridles, two boars among dozens of deer, ibex, moose, tigers and other animals, from the 5th century BCE.

Though images of deer and horses clearly dominated, there were also a few boars. Most of them were depicted in hunting scenes or perhaps as food offerings, often along with deer.
The two boars on the left are from a petroglyph from the kurgan in Arzhan, Tuva. They are part of a design with three boars and four ibex sheep. The boars below are from another petroglyph at the same site. Towards the left, the design continues with deer figures. The boars in this images appear to be lying down on their side, and are thus most likely depictions of offerings.


This golden pectoral found in Ordzhonikidze was also among the exhibits. Its design incorporates various scenes, among them a lion attacking a wild boar.
Here is a photo with some of the golden adornments worn by a noble couple found in a grave in Arzhan. Among them are "thousands of little panthers and boars from the cloaks of the couple".



Above to the left is a sketch of one of several dozens of little golden boar figures that used to adorn a quiver (Arzhan, Tuva, late 7th century BCE). The sketch on the right might give an impression of how the little boars were arranged. (Each dimple = a little golden boar figure).
Maybe they were supposed to give good luck in hunting, or be symbols for all the boars that the owner of the quiver had slain.

On the left is a dagger with a knob in the shape of a boar from Arzhan, Tuva. There was only a schematic drawing of it in the exhibition.

There were also boar's teeth on display (9th-8th century BCE), which had been worn as a necklace, perhaps as hunting trophies.

In excavations of ancient fortifications in Stânceşti, Moldova, something quite interesting had been found: a fish with the head of a boar and, probably, the tail of a bird. It stems from the 5th or 4th century BCE, and was most likely part of a headdress for a horse, worn on the side of the horse's face. It was about 30 cm long and made of gold.


One interpretation is that the figure symbolizes the three elements earth (boar), water (fish) and air (bird). "Similar motifs have been found among both Thrakian an Scythian remains", it said.

The scythian noblemen had fiercely kick-ass tattoos, but unfortunately none of the tattoos shown in this exhibition (in drawings, a mummified man and the preserved skin from another man's arm) had any boar motifs.

Clovis and his bovine friends

Der Spiegel writes: "A modern-day boar in the north-western French region where the Asterix comics are set has avoided the plight of his forebears -- and even befriended a herd of cows."

In the district of Lohuec, a young wild boar has been adopted by a herd of cows. Locals have given him the name Clovis. Clovis and his cow friends seem to live happily and peacefully together, and local farmer Richard Crassin even feeds him together with the cows.
(Photo: AFP)

Melon-boys

The Japanese word for "baby wild boar" is "uribô". That literally means "melon-boy". It comes from the fact that baby wild pigs are striped ... like melons.



Melon-boys at play. (Picture from Ino-Park ...)

Giant forest hogs

The giant forest hog, hylochoerus meinertzhageni, is a quite interesting species of wild pigs. Its measurements are as follows: length of the body - 155 to 180 cm, legth of the tail - 25 to 35 cm, height at the shoulder - 80 to 100 cm, body mass - 100 to 250 kg, diameter of snout disk - up to 13 cm. (Data from this Russian page.)

"Forest Hog social groups consist of one boar, one to four sows and their offspring. Other pigs usually do not allow a boar to join a family group apart from during the mating season. The effect of dominance hierachy was observed for both sexes on the following behaviours: leading the group, protection of the home range, protection of the sows against extra-group males and behaviour in presence of predators. The results reveal that Forest Hogs do not show any hierarchy within the group and all adult animals seem to be responsible for all group members. However, data suggests that there may be an alpha sow, who might be the centre of group coordination."

From "Zur Ökologie und Ethologie des Afrikanischen Riesenwaldschweines" by Sandra Fimpel - a very interesting thesis on a field study of giant forest hogs in Uganda. Even if you don't know German, it's definitely worth it to just look at the many photographs of the subjects of the study (not least the one of the piglet who "playfully nibbles at the boar's testicles" on page 58 ...).

The forest hog groups, as opposed to many other species of wild boars, have a "steady family boar", who is deeply involved in family life and plays with and cares for the piglets. This, Fimpel argues, will give him advantage in the eyes of the sows of the group when facing a strange boar interested in taking over his place, and it also gives him security and social contacts, besides the obvious possibility to pass on his genes.

Fimpel also studied the language of forest hogs, and classified at least 18 different "basic sounds": 5 contact sounds, 4 calling sounds, warning sound, alarm sound, greeting sound, frightened sound, repelling sound, calming sound, sleeping sound, fighting sound and curious sound. Besides that, she once recorded a long, deep "growl" of a boar that was inside some bushes with his group, but the meaning of this sound could not be determined ... I wish samples of the sounds would be available.

See also the chapter on giant forest hogs in the Pigs, Peccaries and Hippos Status Survey and Action Plan by Jean-Pierre d'Huart from IUCN.

Pigs in Paradise

David Pacchioli writes about the quest of a few brave men to find the mysterious "pig half-man half woman" in the Republic of Vanuatu. In their quest they not only find themselves, but also delve into the mystery of intersexuality and maleness.

In Vanuatu, "pigs are a measure of wealth throughout most of the islands and are a part of many ceremonies. The most prized pig is the male with curled tusks. The upper canines are removed allowing the tusk to grow into a curl, a process taking up to 14 years. Pigs are used to pay for grade taking rights, penalty payment for breaking tabu, for trade and as gifts for marriage, death, circumcisions, initiations, etc. Ultimately the pigs are ritually killed by high ranking men and the curled tusk is worn by these men as a status symbol."


"Looking after your pig." From vanua.com