MIAMI — As the stars of Friday's show in downtown Miami, piglets Glinda and Elphaba won't have to worry about gracing the dinner table at a Cuban-American family's home on Christmas Eve.
The public pardon of two piglets disproves a seven-year-long White House tradition of pardoning two turkeys on Thanksgiving in South Florida, where Miami-Dade County's Daniela Levine Cava Approved by the mayor.
The four-month-old pigs, named after the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch from the musical “Wicked,” will spend their lives of 12 to 15 years at an animal sanctuary south of Miami.
Glinda and Elphaba seemed uninterested in the ceremony or in the crowd surrounding the makeshift pen outside Latin Café 2000, the restaurant that planned and hosted the event.
The tan and black pair, about the size of stocky beagles, gobbled up apple and orange slices when offered to them.
Otherwise, they seemed determined to find a way to nibble on the plastic grass inside their enclosure.
Had it not been for the pardon, they might have joined the thousands of other members of their tribe who were barbecued whole in underground pits, on spits or in special metal boxes by families in places like Cuba and South Florida on Tuesday. .
These become the “lechon asado” served at Noche Buena dinners.
“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, good food, right? So important. Well, it's not a very good time to be a pig in Miami,'' joked Levine Cava while presenting a proclamation granting Glinda and Elphaba a lifetime reprieve from barbecue.
Eric Castellanos, owner of Latin Cafe 2000, said the event started as a joke among his staff after seeing news about presidential pardons on Thanksgiving Day. “We don't really eat turkey here in Miami.” we eat pork. ”
“So we looked at each other and said, 'Someone should do this,'” Castellanos said. “The rest is history.”
Castellanos' two children, Rico and Alessandra, were responsible for choosing the piglet's name.
Abi Elkes, who moved to Miami four months ago, was one of dozens of people who stopped to meet Glinda and Elphaba and watch the ceremony.
“I'm from the Midwest, so I've been to quite a few farms and seen a lot of different types of pigs, and these are cute pigs,” Arkes said. “One of my best friends has lived here all her life and taught me about Cuban culture, Latin culture and what it takes to be a complete Miamian.”
After the ceremony, Glinda and Elphaba were driven to their new home on the 12th and 13th to receive their longstanding pardon.
The plastic lawn doesn't budge.
