Shepherd
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[[Image:Rumunia 5806.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Shepherd in [[Făgăraş Mountains]], [[Romania]].]]
A '''shepherd''' is a person who tends to, feeds, or guards [[sheep]], especially in flocks. The word may also refer to one who provides religious guidance, as a [[pastor]].
== History ==
Shepherding is one of the oldest professions, beginning some 6,000 years ago in [[Asia Minor]]. Sheep were kept for their [[milk]], [[meat]], and especially their [[wool]]. Over the next millennia sheep and shepherding spread throughout [[Eurasia]].
Some sheep were integrated in the family farm along with other animals such as [[pig]]s and [[chicken]]s. To maintain a large herd, however, the sheep must be able to move from pasture to pasture, this required the development of a profession separate from that of the farmer. The duty of shepherds was to keep their flock intact and protect it from [[wolf|wolves]] and other predators. The shepherd was also to supervise the migration of the flock and ensured they made it to market areas in time for [[Sheep shearing|shearing]]. In ancient times shepherds also commonly milked their sheep, and made [[cheese]] from this milk; only some shepherds still do this today.
[[Image:Nicolas Poussin 052.jpg|thumb|300px|''[[Les Bergers d’Arcadie]]'' (The Shepherds of [[Arcadia]]) by [[Nicolas Poussin]].]]
In many [[societies]] shepherds were an important part of the [[economy]]. Unlike farmers, shepherds were often wage earners, being paid to watch the sheep of others.
Shepherds also lived apart from society, being largely nomadic. It was mainly a job of solitary males without children, and new shepherds thus needed to be recruited externally. Shepherds were most often the younger sons of farming peasants who did not inherit any land. Still in other societies, each family would have a family member to shepherd its flock, often a [[child]], [[youth]] or an elderly who couldn't help much with harder work; these shepherds were fully integrated in society.
Shepherds would normally work in groups either looking after one large flock, or each bringing their own and merging their responsibilities. They would live in small cabins, often shared with their sheep and would buy food from local communities. Less often shepherds lived in covered wagons that traveled with their flocks.
Shepherding developed only in certain areas. In the lowlands and river valleys, it was far more efficient to grow grains and cereals than to allow sheep to graze, thus the raising of sheep was confined to rugged and mountainous areas. In the pre-modern times shepherding was thus centred on regions such as the [[Land of Israel]], [[Greece]], the [[Pyrenees]], the [[Carpathian Mountains]], and [[Scotland]].
==The shepherd's work in modern times==
[[Image:american shepherd.jpg|thumb|210px|left|Shepherd with his horse and dog on [[Gravelly Range]] [[Madison County, Montana|Madison County]], [[Montana]], August [[1942]].]]
In modern times shepherding has changed dramatically. The abolition of [[common land]]s in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth century moved shepherding from independent nomads to employees of massive estates. European expansion spread sheep around the world, and shepherding became especially important in [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]] where flocks of 4000, or more, were tended by one person. While originally shepherding in those countries was done on unfenced land, many shepherds left to try their luck on the goldfields. Shepherds are no longer used in Australia and New Zealand. Some families in Africa and Asia have their wealth in sheep, so a young son is sent out to guard them while the rest of the family tend to other chores.
Wages are higher than was the case in the past. Keeping a shepherd in constant attendance can be costly. Also, the eradication of sheep predators in parts of the world have lessened the need for shepherds. In countries like [[UK|Britain]], hardy breeds of sheep are frequently left alone without a shepherd for long periods of time. More productive breeds of sheep can be left in fields and moved periodically to fresh pasture when necessary. Hardier breeds of sheep can be left on hillsides. The sheep farmer will attend to the sheep when necessary at times like lambing or shearing.
{{further|[[Sheep husbandry]]}}
==Shepherds in religion==
<!-- This section is linked from [[East of Eden]] --> {{globalize}}
[[Image:Meister des Mausoleums der Galla Placidia in Ravenna 002.jpg|thumb|240px|The 5th-century [[Ravenna]] mosaic illustrates the concept of [[The Good Shepherd (religion)|The Good Shepherd]].]]
[[Image:Pastrage.jpg|thumb|right|240px|Traditional Midnight Mass with Shepherds in [[Provence]] ]]
Metaphorically, the term is used for [[God]], especially in the [[Judeo-Christian]] tradition (e.g. [[Psalm 23]]), and in Christianity especially [[Jesus]], who is called [[The Good Shepherd (religion)|Good Shepherd]]. The Ancient [[Israelites]] were a [[Herder|pastoral]] people and there were many shepherds among them. It may also be worth noting that many Biblical heroes were shepherds, among them the [[Old Testament]] [[prophet]] [[Amos (prophet)|Amos]], who was a shepherd in the rugged area around [[Tekoa (Biblical)|Tekoa]], as well as the patriarchs [[Abraham]] and [[Jacob]], the [[twelve tribes]], the prophet [[Moses]], and [[King David]]. In the [[New Testament]] angels announced the birth of Jesus to shepherds.
The same metaphor is also applied to [[priest]]s, with Roman Catholic and [[Church of England]] [[bishop]]s having the shepherd's [[crook]] among their insignia (see also ''[[Lycidas]]''). In both cases, the implication is that the faithful are the "flock" who have to be tended. This is in part inspired by Jesus's injunctions to Peter, "Feed my sheep," which is the source of the pastoral image in ''Lycidas''.
The Great Shepherd is one of the thrusts of Biblical scripture. This illustration encompasses many ideas, including God's care for his people, His discipline to correct the wandering sheep, as well as the tendency of humans to put themselves into danger's way and their inability to guide and take care of themselves apart from the direct power and leading of God. [http://www.harvestermission.org/messenger/199006.html]
[[Muhammad]], the Prophet of Islam, prided himself in being part of a rich tradition of prophets who found their means of livelihood as being shepherds.
Lord Krishna was also a Shepherd.
See also ''[[Pashupati]]'', ''[[Dhangar]]'', ''[[Kuruba]]''.
==Shepherd in popular culture==
[[Image:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - The Shepherdess (1889).jpg|right|thumb|"The Shepherdess" by [[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]]; note that the bare feet are clean, despite her occupation.]]
The shepherd, with other such figures as the [[goatherd]], is the inhabitant of idealized [[Arcadia (utopia)|Arcadia]], which is an idyllic and natural countryside. These works are, indeed, called [[pastoral]], after the term for herding. The first surviving instances are the ''Idylls'' of [[Theocritus]], and the ''Eclogues'' of [[Virgil]], both of which inspired many imitators such as [[Edmund Spenser]]'s ''[[The Shepheardes Calender]]''. The shepherds of the pastoral are often heavily conventional and bear little relation to the actual work of shepherds.
Shepherds and shepherdesses have been frequently immortalised in art and sculpture. Among the best known is the [[Neoclassicism|neoclassical]] [[Denmark|Danish]] [[sculpture|sculptor]] [[Bertel Thorvaldsen]]'s ''Shepherd Boy with Dog''.{{Fact|date=May 2007}}
The shepherd, in such works, appears as a virtuous soul because of his living close to nature, uncorrupted by the temptations of the city. So [[Edmund Spenser]] writes in his ''[[Colin Clouts Come home againe]]'' of a shepherd who went to the city, saw its wickedness, and returned home wiser, and in ''[[The Faerie Queen]]'' makes the shepherds the only people to whom the Blatant Beast is unknown.
Many tales involving [[Child abandonment#Child Abandonment In Literature|foundlings]] portray them being rescued by shepherds: [[Oedipus]], [[Romulus and Remus]], the title characters of [[Longus]]'s ''Daphnis and Chloe'', and ''[[The Winter's Tale]]'' by [[William Shakespeare]]. These characters are often of much higher social status than the characters who save and raise them, the shepherds themselves being secondary characters. Similarly, the heroes and heroines of [[fairy tale]]s written by the [[précieuses]] often appeared as shepherds and shepherdesses in pastoral settings, but these figures were royal or noble, and their simple setting does not cloud their innate nobility.<ref>Lewis Seifert, "The Marvelous in Context: The Place of the Contes de Fées in Late Seventeenth Century France", Jack Zipes, ed., The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm, p 920-1, ISBN 0-393-97636-X</ref> In [[Hans Christian Andersen]]'s "[[The Shepherdess and the Sweep]]" (1845), the porcelain shepherdess carries a gilt crook and wears shoes of gilt as well. Her lover is a porcelain chimney sweep with a princely face "as fair and rosy as a girl's", completely unsmudged with soot.
''The Shepherd'' by [[Frederick Forsyth]] is the story of a flight from [[Germany]] to [[England]] undertaken by a young [[de Havilland Vampire|Vampire]] pilot one Christmas Eve.
==Shepherd communities==
The [[Tirthap]] community which is basically found in the north [[Maharashtra]] ([[Khandesh]]), i.e. [[Dhule]], [[Jalgaon]] are also [[Dhangar]]s they are said to originated from the [[Ahirs]] of [[Northern India]]. Shepherds are found in the name of [[Kuruba]]s in South India mainly in [[Karnataka]]
==See also==
* [[Dhangar]] community
* [[Sheepdog]]
* [[Animal husbandry]]
* [[Goatherd]]
* [[Swineherd]]
* [[Camel]] herding
* [[Llama]] herding
* [[Yak#Domesticated yaks|Yak]] herding
* [[Reindeer#Reindeer and humans|Reindeer]] herding
* [[Transhumance]]
* [[Kuruba]] Hindu community
* [[Robene and Makyne]] pastourelle
==References==
{{Reflist}}
* [http://www.sheep101.info/index.html A Beginner's Guide to Raising Sheep]
* [http://www.ramshornstudio.com/songbook.htm A Shepherds Songbook]
* [http://www.karakulsheep.com/ American Karakul Sheep Registry]
* [http://www.albc-usa.org/ American Livestock Breeds Conservancy]
* [http://www.rarebreeds.co.nz/ Rare Breeds Conservation Society of New Zealand]
* [http://www.scottish-blackface.co.uk/ Scottish Blackface Sheep Breeders Association]
[[Category:Agricultural occupations (animal)]]
[[Category:Sheep]]
[[da:Hyrde]]
[[de:Schäferei]]
[[eo:Ŝafisto]]
[[es:Pastor]]
[[eu:Artzaintza]]
[[fa:چوپانی]]
[[fr:Berger]]
[[id:Gembala]]
[[it:Pastore]]
[[he:רועה צאן]]
[[la:Opilio]]
[[nl:Herder]]
[[oc:Pastre]]
[[fi:Paimen]]
[[sv:Herde]]