In 17th-century Majorca, the pig slaughter was more than a winter chore. It was a statement to the neighbors: in this house we eat pork, in this house we are Christian. For those who secretly kept the Law of Moses, it was also the hardest test.
One day a pig was killed at the house of Gabriel Joseph Cortés, known as «the Consul». His wife, Ana Cortés, drew a relative aside and, «privately and in secret», told him that «the master wanted it, and one had to be patient».
He understood it this way, and later told the tribunal so: Ana was a believer in the Law of Moses and killed the pig out of fear of her husband.
A dozen words spoken in the middle of the slaughter, hands busy, neighbors close by. Almost everything about the lives of many women on that street fits inside them: obey on the outside, resist on the inside and, sometimes, confide in someone who would end up repeating it to the Inquisition.
