MIAMI – As the stars of Friday’s show in downtown Miami, baby pigs Glinda and Elphaba will never have to worry about gracing the dinner table at a Cuban American family’s home on Christmas Eve.
Public pardons for the two piglets were granted by the mayor of Miami-Dade County, Daniella Levine Cava, in a seven-year South Florida riff on the White House tradition of pardoning two turkeys at Thanksgiving. The 4-month-old pigs, named after the good and wicked witches in the musical “ Wicked,” will live out their expected 12 to 15 years at an animal sanctuary south of Miami.
Glinda and Elphaba didn’t seem too interested in the ceremony or the crowd surrounding their makeshift pen outside the Latin Cafe 2000, the restaurant that created and sponsors the event. The tan-and-black pair, about the size of pudgy beagles, hogged down apple and orange slices when offered. Otherwise, they seemed determined to find some way to nibble on the plastic grass lining their enclosure.
If not for the pardons, they could have joined the thousands of their kind that will be barbecued whole on Tuesday in underground pits, on spits or in special metal boxes by families in Cuba, South Florida and elsewhere. They will become the “lechon asado” served during Nochebuena dinners.
“The holidays are definitely the favorite part of the year for me and for so many. It’s a time of gratitude. A time when we reunite with our families and our loved ones. And of course, good food, right? So important — but not a very good time to be a pig in Miami,” Levine Cava joked as she presented the proclamation giving Glinda and Elphaba permanent amnesty from barbecues.
Eric Castellanos, the Latin Cafe 2000’s owner, said the event started out as a joke among staff after seeing a news story about the presidential Thanksgiving pardon, “because we really don’t eat turkey here in Miami. We eat pork.”
“So we looked at each other and said, ‘Hey, someone should do this,’” Castellanos said. “The rest is history.”
Castellanos’ two kids, Rico and Alessandra, were in charge of picking out the piglets’ names.
Abbi Erkes, who moved to Miami four months ago, was one of a few dozen people who stopped to see Glinda and Elphaba and watch the ceremony.
“I’m from the Midwest, so I have been to my fair share of farms and seen a variety of different types of pigs, but these are cute ones,” Erkes said. “One of my best friends has lived here her whole life, and she’s been kind of teaching me about Cuban culture, Latin culture, and the things I need to be a full Miamian.”
After the ceremony, Glinda and Elphaba were driven to their new home, the 12th and 13th to receive pardons over the years.
The plastic grass never budged.
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Associated Press videojournalist Daniel Kozin contributed to this report.
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