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My father looks on while his mother prepares a recently beheaded chicken for plucking and eventual cooking. This was standard procedure then, before the supermarket. I remember her doing this well into the 1960s. View full size.
My grandmother would perform this ceremony often. She would grasp the head of the live chicken, swing it around a couple of times, then snap it like a whip! One can imagine the end result for the poor chicken.
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