Sacred Racs :)

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https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/k-lee7/www/kesl/writ/rac.pdf
"An Indian anthropologist, Chandra Thapar, made a study of foreign cultures which had customs similar to
those in his native land.  Once culture in particular fascinated him because it reveres one animal as sacred, much as
the people in India revere the cow.  The things he discovered might interest you since you will be studying India as
part of this course.
The tribe Dr. Thapar studied is called the Asu and is found in the American continent north of the Tarahumara
of Mexico.  Though it seems to be a highly developed society of its type, it has an overwhelming preoccupation with
the care and feeding of the rac – an animal much like a bull in size, strength and temperament.  In the Asu tribe, it is
almost a social obligation to own at least one if not more racs.  People not possessing at least one are held in low
esteem by the community because they are too poor to maintain one of these beasts properly.  Some members of the
tribe, to display their wealth and social prestige, even own herds of racs.
Unfortunately, the rac breed is not very healthy and usually does not live more than five to seven years.  Each
family invests large sums of money each year to keep its rac healthy and shod, for it has a tendency to throw its shoes
often.  There are rac specialists in each community, perhaps more than one if the community is particularly wealthy.
These specialists, however, due to the long period of ritualtraining theymust undergo and to the difficulty of obtaining
the right selection of charms to treat the rac, demand costly offerings whenever a family must treat an ailing rac.
At the age of sixteen in many Asu communities, many youths undergo a puberty rite in which the rac figures
prominently.  Youths must petition a high priest in a grand temple.  They are then initiated into the ceremonies that
surround the care of the rac and are permitted to keep a rac.
Although the rac may be used as a beast of burden, it has many habits which would be considered by other
cultures as detrimental to the life of the society.  In the first place the rac breed is increasing at a very rapid rate and
the Asu tribe has given no thought to curbing the rac population.  As a consequence the Asu must build more and
more paths for the rac to travel on since its delicate health and its love of racing other racs at high speeds necessitates
that special areas be set aside for its use.  The cost of smoothing the earth is too costly for any one individual to
undertake; so it has become a community project and each member of the tribe must pay an annual tax to build new
paths and maintain the old.  There are so many paths needed that some people move their homes because the rac paths
must be straight as possible to keep the animal from injuring itself.  Dr. Thapar also noted that unlike the cow, which
many people in his country hold sacred, the excrement of the rac cannot be used as  either fuel or fertilizer.  On the
contrary, its excrement is exceptionally foul and totally useless.  Worst of all, the rac is prone to rampages in which
it runs down anything in its path, much like stampeding cattle.  Estimates are that the rac kills thousands of Asu in a
year.
Despite the high cost of its upkeep, the damage it does to the land, and its habit of destructive rampages, the
Asu still regard it as being essential to the survival of their culture."

has anyone seen this before?


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