It's called Parada ng Lechon—the Parade of Roasted Pigs—and it's an annual blecchstravaganza in Balayan, Batangas (the Philippines).To honor San Juan/Saint John the Baptist, the people do the only logical thing: Every June 24, they roast pigs to a garish, glowing redness, dress them up in all manner of festive and/or contemptible attire, and pose them to create carcass tableaux, which they parade through the streets.
In a spectacle dripping with reverence for the part played by the pigs, the celebrants (the living human ones) honor the once-living effigies and pay them their respects.
Whether outfitted with wigs made of mops, or adorned with feather headdresses suitable for Carnival, or propped up on motorcycles, the pigs are living out—or, well—a string of universal dreams: of freedom, of expression, of the self.
And if there's a better way to put John the Baptist's message of austere living and justice into practice, we don't have the stomach to hear about it.
(Source of the rockin' pigs photo. Source of the others.)
6 comments:
what's the matter? run out of nooses? - a paltry five, even if the maximum allowable, doesn't begin to hack it here!
I can't even formulate a coherent thought...too horrified...
As we've mentioned before, we are prohibited by the OCSI from awarding more than five nooses. We gave up fighting this restriction in '07.
5 nooses, indeed! I, wow!
I'm gonna have nightmares tonight.
We used to look forward to the brain bet. We would use it to raise money for a local children's charity. The winner ate the brain then wore the head as a helmet...
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