[PW] a late word on capybaras and their religious status as food

[Nancy_Adams at LECG.com]

      My daughter just mailed me two pages from the April 1998 National
Geographic article on the Orinoco River, which has a picture of a cowboy
roping what appears to be a giant hamster.
      The text on the page says, "A capybara nears the end of its rope
during the pre-Easter round-up at a spread called El Cedral.  What turkey
is the Thanksgiving in the U.S., capybara is to Easter in Venezuela.
Tradition holds that the semiaquatic capy is a fish and so offers guiltless
dining during Lent, when faithful Catholics shun meat."

Nancy Adams
Librarian
LECG, LLC
2000 Powell Street, Suite 600
Emeryville, CA 94608
510-985-6852
510-655-2631 (fax)
nadams at lecg.com