Pig toilet

A pig toilet (sometimes called a "pig sty latrine") is a simple type of dry toilet consisting of an outhouse mounted over a pig sty with a chute or hole connecting the two. The pigs consume the feces of the users of the toilet.

A fuuru (pig toilet) in early 20th century Okinawa
Green glazed toilet with pigsty model. China, Eastern Han dynasty 25 - 220 CE.

Pig toilets were once common in rural China, where a single Chinese ideogram (Chinese: 圊; pinyin: qīng) signifies both "pigsty" and "privy".[1] Funerary models of pig toilets from the Han dynasty (206 BC to AD 220) prove that it was an ancient custom.[2] These arrangements have been strongly discouraged by the Chinese authorities in recent years;[3] although as late as 2005, they could still be found in remote northern provinces.[4] Chinese influence may have been the origin of the use of pig toilets in Okinawa before World War II.[5]

Pig toilets are also a tradition in Goa, a state on the west coast of India.[6] A 2003 survey of sanitary arrangements in Goa and Kerala found that 22.7% of the population still used pig toilets.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ancestors for the Pigs: Pigs in Prehistory, Sarah M Nelson, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology, 1998, ISSN 1048-5325 (p.16)
  2. ↑ Minneapolis Institute of Art: Han Dynasty Pig Sty-Latrine
  3. ↑ Sanitation Without Water, Uno Winblad and Wen Kilama, MacMillan 1985 ISBN 0-333-39140-3 (p.13)
  4. ↑ Appropriate Sanitation Systems in Developing Countries, Thechnical University of Denmark (p.9 of 10)
  5. ↑ Native Okinawan Village Official Site: Unique Features of an Okinawan Home
  6. ↑ Harding, Paul (1998), Goa, Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd, ISBN 1-74059-139-9 (p. 197)
  7. ↑ Sanan, Deepak; Moulik, Soma Ghosh (February 2007). "Community-Led Total Sanitation in Rural Areas: An Approach that Works". http://esa.un.org/''. Water and Sanitation Program - South Asia. Retrieved 6 March 2014.