The other day on the golf course one of our group had a short putt lip out of the hole and spin sideways. He commented, “You pig.” Then a few holes later another almost in and then out putt, a different friend exclaimed, “You pig.” On the next tee box I said, “Why is the pig so maligned?” “Why don’t you write about that word,” someone said. So here it is — pig.
Why do pigs get such a bad rap? When Charles Schultz developed his Peanuts cartoon strip, he named one of the characters Pig-pen. Pig-pen is extremely dirty and has a permanent cloud of dust around him.
In the play Richard III, William Shakespeare wrote, “he is a foul swine” who “swills your warm blood like wash, and makes his trough in your embowell’d bosoms.” It is true that often pigs are dirty and they will eat almost anything, even human flesh.
The Book of Leviticus directs, “The pig (khazeer), because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.” The Qur’an, following suit, forbids the eating of swine flesh. This seems to be connected to the eating habits of pigs. Approved animals for consumption ate grasses, while swine consumed everything.
Just to be clear about pigs and swine: a pig is technically a young swine. A hog is a swine weighing more than 120 lbs. Did you know that the largest swine recorded was 5 feet tall and weighed 2,552 lbs. Now that’s a pig!
The poor pig is maligned because it eats anything. Yet from the swine we get food many people love; bacon, ham, pork chops, sausage, pork shoulder & butt, spareribs, Canadian bacon, etc. Some people even like pig’s feet, pig’s ears, and pig’s tails (an Oktoberest delicacy which I grew up with in Kitchener). You have to weigh the delicious meats versus how the pigs live and what they eat. Pigs are smelly and wallow in mud. Of course, there is a purpose for the mud. It regulates body temperature and discourages parasites. Healthy reasons to be sure.
In medieval Europe the nobility preferred the meat of swine above all else. Perhaps the pigs’ diet of acorns and forest underbrush helped ease the concern about eating habits. Once the vast forests of Europe declined, so did the desire for pigs’ meat. Is there some truth to the phrase, “You are what you eat?”
In China the pig symbolizes wealth and prosperity. The Year of the Pig, in the Chinese calendar, is one of luck. Did you know that 50 per cent of all domestic pigs are found in China?
The “piggy bank” was first used in Germany in the 13th century as a sign of good fortune in saving money. I remember having a piggy bank at home for my savings.
But the poor pig! In the Gospel of Mark Jesus sends some demons into a herd of pigs. “Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and the demons begged Jesus, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.”
So what can we learn from the khazeer? Maybe there is some usefulness and good in all of us. If we focus too much on the faults and things we don’t like about others then relationships suffer. We need to learn to see the good in people, not just the bad or the things we disagree with. Let us learn from the pig and discover useful things in all those around us. It will go a long way in helping us get along with each other.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
