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 in a Cuban American family’s home on Christmas Eve.
The public pardon for the two piglets was granted by the mayor of Miami-Dade County, Daniela Levin Cava, in a seven-year-old South Florida riff on the White House tradition. Forgiving 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 had no interest in the ceremony or the crowd surrounding their makeshift pen outside Latin Café 2000, the restaurant that had created and sponsored the event.
The brown and black pair, the size of fat beagles, gobble up pieces of apple and orange when offered.
Otherwise, they seemed determined to find a way to gnaw the plastic grass in their enclosure.
If not for the pardon, they could have joined thousands of their kind who will be barbecued Tuesday in underground pits, on spits or in special metal boxes by families in Cuba, South Florida and elsewhere .
They would become the “lechon asado” served during the Nochebuena dinner.
“The holidays are definitely my favorite part of the year, and for many people. This is a time of gratitude. A time when we are reunited with our families and our loved ones. And of course, good food, right? So important – but there’s never a very good time to be a pig in Miami,” Levin Cava joked as he presented Glinda and Elphaba with a proclamation granting permanent immunity from the barbecue.
Eric Castellanos, owner of Latin Café 2000, said the program began as a joke among employees after seeing a news story about the president’s Thanksgiving pardon, “because we don’t really eat turkey here in Miami. We eat pigs. Let’s eat the flesh of.
“So we looked at each other and said, ‘Hey, someone should do this,'” Castellanos said. “the rest is history.”
The Castellanos’ two children, Rico and Alessandra, were in charge of choosing the names of the pigs.
Abby Erkes, who moved to Miami four months ago, was one of a few dozen people who stayed to see Glinda and Elphaba and watch the ceremony.
“I’m from the Midwest, so I’ve been to our farms and seen different types of pigs, but these are so sweet,” Erkes said. “One of my best friends has lived here her whole life, and she’s been teaching me about Cuban culture, Latin culture and things I need to be a well-rounded Miamian.”
After the ceremony, Glinda and Elphaba are taken to their new homes, 12th and 13th, to receive forgiveness for the years.
Plastic grass never moves.
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