Today is National Pig Day

 

Today is National Pig Day. While mostly celebrated in the Midwest, National Pig Day as started in 1972 by sisters Ellen Stanley, a teacher in Lubbock, Texas, and Mary Lynne Rave of Beaufort, North Carolina. According to Rave the purpose of the National Pig Day is "to accord the pig its rightful, though generally unrecognized, place" as one of the most intelligent domesticated animals. It is an open question whether the holiday is a time to honor pigs by "giving them a break" or to appreciate their offerings (spare ribs, bacon and ham).

Pigs have held prominent places in our culture, literature and film. Porky Pig and Miss Piggy come immediately to mind, but who can forget Babe the pig, Napoleon Old Major, Snowball and Squealer from Animal Farm, Piglet from Winnie the Pooh, Wilbur from Charlotte's Web, Peppa Pig, The Three Little Pigs, Treat Heart Pig from the Care Bears, Gordy, This Little Piggy, The Oinker Sisters, Professor Strangepork and Hen Wen? 

Many places are named for pigs. In England such place-names include Grizedale ("Pig valley", from Old Scandinavian griss, young pig, and dalr, valley), Swilland ("Pig land", from Old English swin and land), Swindon ("Pig hill"), and Swineford ("Pig ford"). In Scandinavia there are names such as Svinbergen ("Pig hill"), Svindal ("Pig valley"), Svingrund ("Pig ground"), Svinhagen ("Pig hedge"), Svinkärr ("Pig marsh"), Svinvik ("Pig bay"), Svinholm ("Pig islet"), Svinskär ("Pig skerry"), Svintorget ("Pig market"), and Svinö ("Pig island").

Pigs play an interesting part in religion. Pig meat is unacceptable to some world religions. In Islam and Judaism the consumption of pork is forbidden. There will be no National Pig Day in the Middle East today. In Buddhism, the pig symbolizes delusion, one of the three poisons. Pigs have also been sacred in several religions, including the Druids of Ireland, whose priests were called "swine". In Hinduism, the boar-headed Varaha is venerated as an avatar of the god Vishnu. The sow was sacred to the Egyptian goddess Isis and used in sacrifice to Osiris.

There is a town in the UK called Swindon whose name comes from Swine, and the Beast of Dean is an abnormally large wild boar said to have lived in the Forest of Dean. 

Pigs have made it into mythology as well. The Erymanthian Boar was to be captured as one of the Twelve Labours of Hercules and Calydonian Boar is another boar which features strongly in Greek mythology. Gullinbursti was a boar in Norse mythology, and the Chinese have their Year of the Pig.