On Friday, two piglets, Glinda and Elphaba, were pardoned by Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levin Cava, saving them from becoming a traditional Christmas Eve meal. The ceremony, held outside Latin Cafe 2000 in downtown Miami, commemorates a seven-year tradition inspired by the presidential Thanksgiving turkey pardon.
The four-month-old pig, named after a character from the musical “Wicked,” will now live at an animal sanctuary south of Miami. They are expected to live 12 to 15 years. During the ceremony, the beagle-sized piglets were more interested in eating apple and orange slices and nibbling on plastic grass lined at the back of their enclosure than the crowd around them.
Roasted pig, known as “lechon asado,” is a Christmas Eve (noche buena) tradition in many households in Cuba, South Florida, and other parts of the world. Mayor Levin Cava acknowledged this, saying, “For me, and for many people, the holidays are definitely my favorite time of the year. It’s a time of gratitude. It’s a time to reconnect with family and loved ones. And of course It’s good food, right? It’s not a good time to be a pig in Miami, which is very important.
Restaurant owner Eric Castellanos said the event started as a joke among his staff after seeing a news report about the presidential Thanksgiving pardon. “Because here in Miami, we don’t really eat turkey. We eat pork.” He added, “So we looked at each other and said, ‘Hey, someone should do this.’ said Castellanos. “The rest is history.” Castellanos’ children chose a name for the piglet.
