Blooding (hunting)
Blooding is the practice of smearing an animal's blood on the face of the person who killed the animal while hunting. An article on blooding in the British royal family says "Spreading blood on a person’s face is an ancient ritual performed to celebrate a hunter’s first successful kill."[1][2] The ritual of blooding continues today, among hunters -- especially upon children.[3]
In his memoir Spare, Prince Harry described how he was forcibly blooded at age 15[1] by his guide Sandy Masson who cut open the stag Harry had shot, pushed Harry's head inside the carcass, and held it there while Harry struggled to free himself.[4] When Sandy released him, Harry tried to wipe the blood from his face, but Sandy insisted that he "Let it dry.”[5]
It was Sandy Masson, too, who had blooded Prince William three years earlier.[6] Painter André Durand has created "First Blood",[7] a painting imaginatively depicting a 14-year-old Prince William wearing ermine robes and his face blooded, with a dead stag.[8]
Tom Quinn, author of Gilded Youth,[9] a book examining the ways in which members of the royal family raise their children, writes that few expect Kate Middleton (the wife of Prince William) will allow her children to be initiated with the blooding ritual which, in the royal family's tradition, sees young princes smeared with the blood of their first kills.[10]
Controversy
[edit]In 1914, humanitarian and animal rights campaigner Henry Stephens Salt wrote an essay "The Blooding of Children" declaring that there are no more “loathsome” traditions connected with "sport" than blooding.[11] That essay was published in the book Killing for Sport: Essays by Various Writers (1914), edited by Salt.[12]
In the news
[edit]The blooding of a 13-year-old American boy was in the news in September 2024.[13]
Risks
[edit]Scott Durham, a scientist studying deer, has said: "... it’s theoretically possible that one of a few neurological viral diseases could be contracted if an infected deer’s blood came in contact" with a human's skin.[3]
See also
[edit]- Blood ritual
- Hubert of Liège
- Fox_hunting
- Kublai Khan was blooded in 1226 at age 11[14]
- Hulegu Khan was blooded in 1226 at age 9[14]
- Ghazan Khan was blooded in 1280 at age 8[14]
- Prince William, Duke of Gloucester was blooded in 1696 at age 7
- Henry Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort was blooded about 1910 at age 10[11]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Vanamee, Norman (November 23, 2023). "Why Did Prince William Have Blood Wiped On His Face in The Crown?". Town & Country (magazine). Retrieved September 7, 2024.
- ^ "Prince William's hands 'awash with blood'". The Herald (Glasgow). Scotland. 27 November 1996. p. 1. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
PRINCE William was attacked yesterday for having his hands 'awash with blood' after it emerged that he had shot dead a stag on Balmoral estate.
- ^ a b Dubuc, Don (2024). "The Blooding Rite -- Why Do We Do It?". Don Dubuc the Outdoorsguy. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
I had seen enough hunters, mostly kids, who after killing their first deer get smeared with blood from their prey to know the drill. Some went willingly;
- ^ Black, Glen (January 11, 2023). "Prince Harry's new book talks about the most 'loathesome' tradition in bloodsports". Protect the Wild. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
Even as far back as 1914, humanitarian and animal rights campaigner Henry Salt said there are no more "loathesome" traditions in bloodsports.
- ^ Royston, Jack (January 10, 2023). "Prince Harry's Face Was Pressed Into Wound of a Stag He Killed in Ritual". Newsweek. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
Nae, lad, nae. Let it dry, lad! Let it dry.
- ^ Cochrane, Alan (24 March 2024). "Prince Edward set to emerge as Royal family's leading man". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
[Sandy] Masson, who died several years ago, introduced several generations of the Royal family to [stag hunting] – earning some unflattering headlines years later when he 'blooded' the then teenage Prince William after he'd shot his first stag.
- ^ "First Blood depicts a young Prince William, wrapped in the ermine coat that his father wore when he became Prince of Wales, with blood on his face, his first stag in the foreground and white stallion". Retrieved October 10, 2024.
The allegory was based on the news story of 14-year-old Prince William bagging his first stag
- ^ Lane, Megan (15 June 2000). "Blooded but not bowed". BBC News. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
The coming-of-age portrait will be posted on the internet when the prince turns 18 next Wednesday.
Prince William turned 18 on Wednesday 21 June 2000. - ^ Quinn, Tom (December 5, 2023). Gilded Youth: An Intimate History of Growing Up in the Royal Family. Pegasus Books. ISBN 9781639365142.
- ^ Crawford-Smith, James (February 28, 2023). "Kate Middleton Unlikely To 'Allow' Children Role in Royal Blood Ritual—Book". Newsweek. Retrieved October 5, 2024.
Quinn writes that 'few expect' Kate will 'allow' her children to be initiated with the 'blooding' ritual which, in the tradition of the royal family, sees young princes smeared with the blood of their first kills.
- ^ a b Salt, Henry S. (1914). "The Blooding of Children". Henry S. Salt Society. Retrieved October 2, 2024.
Of all practices connected with 'sport', none are more loathsome than those known as 'blooding,' whether it be the 'blooding' of children, which consists in a sort of gruesome parody of the rite of baptism, or ...
- ^ Salt, Henry S., ed. (1915) [1914]. Killing for Sport: Essays by Various Writers. London: George Bell & Sons. Preface by George Bernard Shaw. The Appendix includes seven essays by Salt, including "Sport as a Training for War" and "Blooding" (comprising "The Blooding of Children" and "The Blooding of Hounds").
- ^ Amy, Jeff; Martin, Jeff (September 5, 2024). "Father of 14-year-old Georgia school shooting suspect arrested on multiple charges". PBS News. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
He described a photo on his cellphone from a recent hunting trip with his son: 'You see him with blood on his cheeks from shooting his first deer.'
- ^ a b c Boyle, John Andrew (Spring 1969). "A Eurasian Hunting Ritual". Folklore (journal). 80 (1). Taylor & Francis: 12–16. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1969.9716613. JSTOR 1259334.
It was the Mongol custom ... when a child had taken part in his first hunt, to smear some of the animal's flesh and fat upon his thumb
External links
[edit]- The Blooding of Children, a 1914 essay by Henry S. Salt
- The Stalking Directory.co.uk A UK deer hunters website that mentions blooding
- Tichelar, Michael (October 2018). "Royalty and Opposition to Blood Sports in Twentieth-Century Britain: From Imperial Spoils to Wildlife Conservation?". History (journal). 103 (4 (357)): 588–609. doi:10.1111/1468-229X.12624. JSTOR 26624994.
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