--- title: National Pig Day: See Classic Photos of Snorting Swine description: Celebrate National Pig Day with photos of snorting swine from the LIFE Magazine archives. canonical: https://time.com/4228049/national-pig-day-photos/ author: Eliza Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-01T13:30:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:42.001Z og:title: Celebrate National Pig Day With Photos of Snorting, Cavorting Swine og:description: Celebrate National Pig Day with photos of snorting swine from the LIFE Magazine archives. og:url: https://time.com/4228049/national-pig-day-photos/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte591b2d5eb74b7b8/69887e0ee20a87c673a8f97b/160217-national-pig-day-14.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2816 og:image:height: 1584 og:image:alt: National Pig Day og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Celebrate National Pig Day With Photos of Snorting, Cavorting Swine twitter:description: Celebrate National Pig Day with photos of snorting swine from the LIFE Magazine archives. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte591b2d5eb74b7b8/69887e0ee20a87c673a8f97b/160217-national-pig-day-14.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Celebrate National Pig Day With These Snorting, Cavorting Swine  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Mar 1, 2016 1:30 PM UTC  Jan Bruene stands with Henrietta, a 700-lb. purebred Yorkshire sow, 1954. Jan Bruene stands with Henrietta, a 700-lb. purebred Yorkshire sow, 1954.Gordon Parks—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Mar 1, 2016 1:30 PM UTC It’s not that pigs haven’t gotten their due in history: A long line of fictional swine come to mind when the animal is mentioned, from onscreen stalwarts (Babe; Miss Piggy) to figments of the literary imagination (Wilbur; the [Orwellian](http://entertainment.time.com/2005/10/16/all-time-100-novels/slide/animal-farm-1946-by-george-orwell/)[ variety](http://entertainment.time.com/2005/10/16/all-time-100-novels/slide/animal-farm-1946-by-george-orwell/)) to the one who went “wee wee wee” all the way home. But in 1972, sisters Ellen Stanley and Mary Lynne Rave decided that the animal deserved its own day in the mud. They founded National Pig Day, to be held annually on the first of March, “to accord to the pig its rightful, though generally unrecognized, place as one of man’s most intellectual and domesticated animals.” Adherents to the national holiday find themselves in two distinct camps: those who celebrate by consuming pork products, and those who mark the day by discouraging such consumption. The latter group makes a plea for human sympathy, pointing to [ample](http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/05/05/402584436/tales-of-pig-intelligence-factory-farming-and-humane-bacon) [research](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/science/10angier.html) signaling the animal’s intelligence. If one is disinclined to decide, a more neutral approach may be taken by simply enjoying porcine portraits produced by some of the 20th century’s greatest photographers. _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Piglet, 1939. Wallace Kirkland—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  Large sow eating an ear of corn, 1939. Wallace Kirkland—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  A pig makes a sorrowful expression, 1941. Herbert Gehr—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  A sow and her piglets at Super Pig Farm, Mt. Ararat Farms, 1945. Thomas McAvoy—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A piglet at Super Pig Farm, Mt. Ararat Farms, 1945. Thomas McAvoy—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A large pig roots through the mud, 1946. Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Portrait of a sizable pig, 1946. Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A pig wears ribbons for winning several contests in a livestock exposition, 1947. George Skadding—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A championship Yorkshire mother pig with piglets, 1948. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Priscilla the Performing Pig, 1949. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Porkchop the pig relaxes in his backyard, 1952. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A tiny piglet is held up for display, 1954. Wallace Kirkland—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Mixed Yorkshire pigs on an Iowa farm, 1954. Gordon Parks—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Jan Bruene stands with Henrietta, a 700-lb. purebred Yorkshire sow, 1954. Gordon Parks—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Rear view of two hogs, 1954. Al Fenn—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4228049/national-pig-day-photos/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4228049/national-pig-day-photos/"},"headline":"Celebrate National Pig Day With These Snorting, Cavorting Swine","datePublished":"2016-03-01T13:30:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:46:42.001Z","description":"National Pig Day is held annually on March 1","url":"https://time.com/4228049/national-pig-day-photos/","keywords":["animals","Newsfeed","photography","LIFE Magazine"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte591b2d5eb74b7b8/69887e0ee20a87c673a8f97b/160217-national-pig-day-14.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliza Berman","jobTitle":"Berman is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte591b2d5eb74b7b8/69887e0ee20a87c673a8f97b/160217-national-pig-day-14.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"National Pig Day","caption":"National Pig Day","creditText":"Gordon Parks—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4228049/national-pig-day-photos/","name":"Celebrate National Pig Day With These Snorting, Cavorting Swine"}}]}] ```