elegantly dressed pigs
"Give me back my leek!"
Tomorrow is St David's Day, when Welshmen (and women) everywhere will be wearing all manner of leeks, daffodils etc in their buttonholes in honour of the Patron Saint of Wales - no, not Dylan Thomas - not the guy from the Manic Street Preachers who went missing - not them. St David, or Dewi Sant, Archbishop of Wales and grandson of Ceredig, King of Ceredigion.
Rather than wear an almost-onion or an out-of-season, carbon-footprint daff, I have decided to celebrate with a Pig Special for this Elegantly Dressed Wednesday. Observe the innate elegance of the pig above. Everything about him is beautiful and speaks of high breeding, including the cushion he stands on and even the supplicating (and clearly Welsh) girl. He is a Porcine Oracle.
This connection isn't as far-fetched as it might seem to those whose only contact with pigs was, say, in the prepared meats aisle. Pigs are not only important historically and symbolically to all mankind, for all sorts of reasons - they are also an ancient emblem of Welshness,* and were revered for their wisdom and kindness in the olden days. They figure importantly in the Mabinogion, which is the repository of ancient Welsh myth, with stories of shapeshifting common to say the least. This little white piglet is obviously a demigod of some kind.
Now, St David - or Dewi Sant - lived in the sixth century, and was very active in converting the Welsh to Christianity. It is probable that even if he did not believe in the sanctity of pigs, his parishioners probably harboured secret feelings about them, and possibly even consulted them in times of stress. And anyway, St David's Day has grown to encompass far more than the beliefs of the Archbishop himself: after all, we know very little about him. He may even have disliked leeks (silly man). So the pig connection, I say, stands.
You can read more about it in this lecture, which was delivered five years ago to the Saint David's Society of Greater St Louis. Ms B was unfortunately unable to be present at the event, but you can, with her, read and see what you missed.
If all this gets you in the mood for pigs, check out the site I got the picture from: Porcopolis, a single-minded bestiary, "a repository of the eternal verities and varieties of swinedom". In fact, go there anyway.
And Happy St David's Day!
*in fact, there are larger Celtic significances as well, which is nice to remember as la famille Baroque prepares for its trip to Cornwall.
11 comments:
A'r un fath i tithau – Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant hapus iawn, Katy!
Splendid, Katy! I'm half-Welsh, and I love pigs, but I'd never connected the two before.
Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant hapus!
Why, diolch yn fawr iawn, you two!
Lucy (Van Pelt) to Snoopy: You think you're smart don't you, but Pigs are in fact the smartest domestic animals, by far. They can ... (continues ad nauseum) ..
Snoopy: "If they're so smart, then why are they pigs?"
P-Ump, I have always loved Lucy Van Pelt's whole entire name. Thank you for using the whole thing.
Anyway, I've always loved pigs. If I hadn't said I wanted to be a duck in Norm's profile, I'd have said I wanted to be a pig. Clearly not a sausage pig. An ornamental one.
Before the Simpsons came along I had little to guide me in life aside from Peanuts and The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but right enough, Lucy Van Pelt et al did the job. I daydream like Snoopy, get irrationally cranky like Lucy Van Pelt, had a blanket as a baby like Linus Van Pelt and was crap at ball sports (in my case cricket) like Charlie Brown.
Lucy (to Snoopy, in summertime): Why on earth are you wearing a fur coat in heat like this? Who on earth would do that?
Snoopy: Some of us sacrifice comfort for style.
And if that doesn't qualify for an EDW, I've no idea what does. Incidentally you claim to love pigs, but does a pig justify a picture of an attractive girl in her underwear? Demur underwear, to be sure, and of historical interest, and in an artistic context, but it's still a girl in a slip and a pig on a pillow. I'm no artist nor poet, but it all seems ok to me.
The Sausage queen has approved this pro-porcine entry!
Mr Dog, I love you!
P-Ump, you see it's different for me. I was admiring her shoes and her hairdo.
However, I commend you, because as always it is clear that you have taken all the correct inspirations. I always had a little thing for Schroeder.
Lovely!
As the Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas said of pigs:
The sunny slow lulling afternoon yawns and moons through the dozy town... Pigs grunt in a wet wallow bath, and smile as they snort and dream. They dream of the acorned swill of the world, the rooting for pig-fruit, the bagpipe dugs of the mother sow, the squeal and snuffle of yesses of the women pigs in rut. They mud-bask and snout in the pig-loving sun; their tails curl; they rollick and slobber and snore to deep, smug, after-swill sleep.
- from "Under Milk Wood" (1954) a radio play later made into a stage play and later still a movie with Richard Burton (also Welsh), Liz Taylor & Peter O'Toole.
Slightly sad to see you take Peanuts as if it's nothing more than a children's cartoon. (') - that's a tear stain, by the way.
And do you think Lucy would be impressed by your shallowness?
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