The Ritual

The Ritual

The smell of sizzled hide permeates the crisp, spring air. Four-legged creatures bellar and snort from all corners of the long, green temp pen. A fire crackles and pops, acting as a central focal point for the ritual. A propane take funnels its fumes into the fire’s flames; the hot embers spit the occasional spark and channel their heat to the erect irons protruding from the inner coals.



Multiple officials in tight denim and plaid shirts scurry about performing a series of purposeful movements and actions. run about the spectacle performing a series of purposeful movements and actions. The creatures are roped by their hind legs, dragged near the glowing irons, and flanked by two labourers known as “wrestlers”. One takes the back end of the creature, pulling a leg back with his arm and stretching the other leg up the animal’s side with his foot. The front wrestler forces his knee on the creature’s neck and pulls back its leg in an awkward contortion.



The moment the creature is down, various officials descend on it. One approaches the front of its body and fills a syringe with a thick, murky fluid; she then brings a sharp, two-inch needle under one of the creature’s legs and stabs it hard, quickly injecting the substance deep into the animal’s body. Another official quickly strides to the helpless being’s head and takes hold of an ear; pulling it taunt, he produces another needle complemented by an odd-looking circular disk filled with small viles of white liquid. A quick tug of the ear appropriates the amount of tension required to slide the sharp, silver tongue under the skin and inject the creature once more.



Three other officials arrive with “ear guns”, which are loaded with unique identification labels. The ritual mandates piercings in both of the animal’s ears; in no time, three guns are fired and three buttons smash through flesh, connecting to a receptor plug on the ear’s opposite side.



An older, slower man approaches the animal’s bottom leg with a metal hand tool that contains four small prongs splayed closely together; at first, the purpose of this tool remains unclear. Then, the man removes a pea-green ring from his chest pocket and slides it over the compacted prongs. He then reaches underneath the creature’s legs and encapsulates its external reproductive organs with his hand; after securing them both in the animal’s sack, he squeezes the metal hand tool and the four prongs force the ring open into an intimidating noose. The green snare is then forced around the reproductive sack’s base and is then released there, contracting back to its original size and cutting off the blood flow to those sexual organs.



It is then time for the last component of the harsh ritual to commence. A proud official, with gloves made from a creature’s hide, approaches the fire pit and removes one of the glowing iron bars. He approaches the creature’s flank, located near its rear, and twirls the bar in a half-circle, making sure it is positioned correctly. A strange symbol has been formed on the end of the bar, signifying the master’s ownership of the creature. The official pauses for a moment to brush off small pieces of grass and dirt that have accumulated on the animal’s hide. And then he presses down.



The symbol eats through the animal’s fur quickly, creating large flames all around the immediately affected area. Surrounding hair blackens and curls and in an instant the creature begins to scream in agony as the iron begins to eat through the once tough, untouched hide. The heat rips through the skin and begins to tattoo the creature in several moments of intense pain. The smell of burnt flesh disperses throughout the site, flowing through the noses of all who surround the scene. The iron is removed from the animal and an angry, twisted mark glares upwards towards the clear, blue sky. A crisp wind bites at the newly exposed flesh, cutting deep into several nerve endings that have been stimulated by a deeper than usual marking. The official returns to the pit for a second symbol and repeats the process. This time, the animal simply rolls its eyes back into its brain and goes into a simplistic form of shock, not resisting or struggling at all.



When the smoke clears and this iron official returns the second symbol to its hearth, the animal is released; it staggers to its feet and reels forward back into the herd to nurse its wounds.



Smoke rises. Flesh burns. The branding has commenced.


G.G. 2011