The Red Flannel Rag

While Mom was busy gathering the ingredients for the noon meal on hog-killing

day, my dad and brothers gathered the butchering tools. To do this, they had to

remember where they butchered the last hogs of the season the year before. During the

weekend before the butchering, they would gather around the dining room table. Dad

would say, “We’d better be thinkin’ about haulin’ the butcherin’ tools this week. Do y’all

know where they are?” My brothers, Larry and John, would look at each other and

think for a minute then Larry would answer, “They’re at Uncle Jim’s house. He was the

last one we butchered for last yea r, ain’t that right, John?” John always nodded his head

in agreement.

The tools included a .22 rifle, axe, butcher saw, wooden tripod hog hangers,

scalding chains or ropes, kettles, kettle rings, scrapers, hooks, large tubs, buckets, pans,

meat boards, and a wide variety of sharp knives. It was customary for the last family

that used the tools to clean and store them for the next year. I often wondered how the

men kept the ownership of the tools straight because while each tool or type of tool was

individually owned, the entire community used them. Uncle Shirley and Uncle Jim

were always there on butchering day. They provided the sharp knives, while my dad

provided the scalding pan and some of the iron kettles. Uncle Jim also provided the lard

press and the sausage grinder and stuffer. All of these tools were gathered and set in

place the day before the butchering.

Butchering day started early and was a busy one for all members of the

household. Dad got up at 3:00 a.m. to fill the kettles and scalding pan with water and

make fires under them. An hour later the helpers began to arrive. The same men and

women always came to help, and some of them we hadn’t seen since hog -killing the year

166