A display of pork legs
At the Las Cuevas del Duque restaurant in Madrid.
The custom of Spanish restaurants hanging pork dates back to the Spanish Inquisition. In 1492, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand issued royal decrees that pretty much gave all Jews and Muslims living in Spain three options: convert to Catholicism, leave the country or face burning at the stake. Thousands of them chose to leave the country but those who stayed had to prove somehow that they had truly converted to Catholicism. To do so, they were hanging pork legs in display so everyone could see that they were eating pork hence their religion had indeed changed. (theuijunkie.com/pork-legs-hanging-spain/)
A display of pork legs
At the Las Cuevas del Duque restaurant in Madrid.
The custom of Spanish restaurants hanging pork dates back to the Spanish Inquisition. In 1492, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand issued royal decrees that pretty much gave all Jews and Muslims living in Spain three options: convert to Catholicism, leave the country or face burning at the stake. Thousands of them chose to leave the country but those who stayed had to prove somehow that they had truly converted to Catholicism. To do so, they were hanging pork legs in display so everyone could see that they were eating pork hence their religion had indeed changed. (theuijunkie.com/pork-legs-hanging-spain/)