HSINCHU (Taiwan) • A festival in Taiwan where enormous pigs are slaughtered and displayed is drawing smaller crowds as animal rights activists alter perceptions of the controversial tradition.
The annual ritual is a cultural cornerstone for the island's Hakka community, who make up about 15 per cent of Taiwan's population.
But it has long been a polarising custom.
Local Hakka families compete to display the largest pig, with the winner taking home a trophy.
On Monday last week, 18 slaughtered pigs were wheeled out on trucks, with fanfare of traditional music played on gongs and horns, into the Hsinpu Yimin Temple in the island's north.
The heaviest weighed a whopping 860kg – three times the average adult swine.
The carcasses, bristles shaved and pinned with decorations, were displayed upside down with pineapples stuffed in their mouths, dwarfed by their bloated torsos.
After the festival, the carcasses are typically taken home by their owners and the meat distributed to friends, family and neighbours.
Mr Tseng Jia-yun's family spent three years fattening up their pig, which was slaughtered last week at a weight of 400kg. The sacrifice fulfilled the wishes of his 86-year-old grandmother.
"As a Hakka, I am proud of this divine pig culture. It's worth preserving," he said, describing the concerns of animal rights groups as "nonsense".
"There's no cruelty to animals, contrary to the rumours being spread around," he added.
SOME SAY RITUAL IS OUTDATED[hhmc]
Animal rights campaigners disagree. They say the heaviest pigs are force-fed and often kept in small cages, to the point where the morbidly obese animals are unable to get up.
"The pigs are so heavy that they can't even stand," said Ms Lin Tai-ching, director of the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan.
Ms Lin has been documenting the "holy pig" festival for the last 15 years and says attitudes are beginning to change. Crowds have begun to thin and the number of sacrifices has fallen dramatically.
"Fifteen years ago, there were more than 100 swine in the contest, compared to 37 this year," she said.
The number of animals over 600kg had also plummeted, she added.
Two submissions this year were made up of rice packets displayed in the shape of a pig, a sign that some participating families are rejecting animal sacrifices.
Researchers and locals say that while the festival dates back centuries, the tradition of sacrificing fattened pigs is a more recent phenomenon.
The Hakka are one of the many ethnic groups from mRead More – Source
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