By Covadonga Riesco
How would you personally approach covering this cultural event through photography?
The traditional slaughter represents an ancestral ritual that connects rural communities with their roots and food traditions. My photographic approach would seek to balance the inherent rawness of the process with the cultural and community dimension that surrounds it.
Aspects I would prioritize capturing:
The faces of older people transmitting knowledge to the new generations capturing the transfer of ancestral knowledge.
- The moments of preparation and traditional tools, documenting objects that represent an endangered material heritage.
- The collective and collaborative work between neighbors and family members, showing the community dimension of the event.
- The contrast between the crudeness of the sacrifice and the subsequent celebration, without falling into sensationalism but without hiding the reality.
- The final products elaborated by hand (sausages, hams, etc.) as symbols of traditional gastronomy
The narrative I would try to convey would be that of a subsistence ritual transformed into intangible cultural heritage. I would seek an atmosphere that combines respect for tradition, reflection on our relationship with food, and the tension between cultural preservation and contemporary sensibilities.
Why choose the traditional slaughter as a cultural event to cover?
I have chosen this event because it represents a fascinating crossroads of contemporary debates: food sustainability, animal welfare, cultural heritage and the evolution of rural areas. The traditional slaughter, which is still celebrated between November and February in some mountain villages in Castilla y León, is one of the last direct links to our traditional food systems.
This event is visually powerful for several reasons:
- The chromatic contrast between the intense red of the blood and meats versus the generally austere and grayish rural winter environment.
- The expressiveness of the faces that reflect concentration, traditional knowledge and the weight of a ceremony that transcends the merely alimentary.
- The sequentiality of the event, which allows to visually narrate a complete process from the sacrifice to the elaboration and consumption.
- The traditional spaces where it takes place (corrals, courtyards, rural kitchens) that constitute authentic scenarios full of history
The main photographic challenge would lie in documenting with respect and depth an event that can be controversial, finding the balance between showing the reality without filters and properly contextualizing an ancestral tradition that connects directly with contemporary ethical debates about our relationship with animals and food.
Slaughtering is not simply a method of obtaining food, but a ritual that articulates social relations, transmission of knowledge between generations and a way of understanding the relationship with the territory and its resources. In my photographs, I would like to invite a reflection on these multiple levels of meaning.
This article is part of the practical work carried out by students on the Master’s Degree in Travel Journalism at the School of Travel Journalism.