After White House turkey pardon, Florida mayor follows ritual with piglets on Christmas

Two piglets, Glinda and Elphaba, received pardons from Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava on Friday, saving them from becoming traditional Christmas Eve meals. The ceremony, held outside Latin Cafe 2000 in downtown Miami, marks a seven-year tradition inspired by the presidential Thanksgiving turkey pardon.

The four-month-old pigs, named after characters 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 piglets, roughly the size of beagles, showed more interest in eating apple and orange slices and nibbling on the plastic grass lining their pen than the surrounding crowd.

Roasting a whole pig, known as "lechon asado," is a common Christmas Eve (Nochebuena) tradition for many families in Cuba, South Florida, and other areas. Mayor Levine Cava acknowledged this, stating, “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.”

Restaurant owner Eric Castellanos explained that the event originated as a joke among staff after seeing a news report about the presidential Thanksgiving pardon. “because we really don’t eat turkey here in Miami. We eat pork.” He added, “So we looked at each other and said, ‘Hey, someone should do this,’” Castellanos said. “The rest is history.” Castellanos' children chose the piglets' names.