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Celebrate National Pig Day With These Snorting, Cavorting Swine

2 minute read

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 variety) 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 research 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.

National Pig Day
Piglet, 1939.Wallace Kirkland—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
National Pig Day
Large sow eating an ear of corn, 1939.Wallace Kirkland—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
National Pig Day
A pig makes a sorrowful expression, 1941.Herbert Gehr—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
National Pig Day
A sow and her piglets at Super Pig Farm, Mt. Ararat Farms, 1945.Thomas McAvoy—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
National Pig Day
A piglet at Super Pig Farm, Mt. Ararat Farms, 1945.Thomas McAvoy—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
National Pig Day
A large pig roots through the mud, 1946.Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
National Pig Day
Portrait of a sizable pig, 1946.Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
National Pig Day
A pig wears ribbons for winning several contests in a livestock exposition, 1947.George Skadding—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
National Pig Day
A championship Yorkshire mother pig with piglets, 1948.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
National Pig Day
Priscilla the Performing Pig, 1949.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
National Pig Day
Porkchop the pig relaxes in his backyard, 1952.John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
National Pig Day
A tiny piglet is held up for display, 1954.Wallace Kirkland—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
National Pig Day
Mixed Yorkshire pigs on an Iowa farm, 1954.Gordon Parks—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
National Pig Day
Jan Bruene stands with Henrietta, a 700-lb. purebred Yorkshire sow, 1954.Gordon Parks—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
National Pig Day
Rear view of two hogs, 1954.Al Fenn—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

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Write to Eliza Berman at eliza.berman@time.com