Pork Festival

[abcdefg]

I'm in a small village about an hour and a half out of Mile 弥勒 in Honghe Prefecture 红河州, up in the remote hills outside the tiny town of Zhu Yuan 竹园。This is way back in the outback of Yunnan and I've come with Kunming friends for Spring Festival.

They killed the special pig two days ago and we ate various bits of it day before yesterday at lunch and dinner, but really splurged yesterday, which was 大年三十 or 除夕, more or less New Year's Eve. We also had the obligatory fish, but the featured item was pig meat in every imaginable incarnation.

It was explained to me that it sort of symbolizes abundance and having meat in a poor village can be a special treat. We have eaten pig ears and pig nose and pig tail and pig feet, and I've been saying silent prayers of thanks that pig eyes are not considered a local delicacy.

I hope not to see any more pork on my table for a long time.

[skylee]

Just in case you don't know, there was not a 大年三十 in the last year (of the dragon). The new year eve was the 29th day of the 12th month. So it was called 年廿九.

[Scoobyqueen]

I've been saying prayers of thanks that pig eyes are not considered a local delicacy.

Interestingly, in Europe pig equipment makers replace the pigs' eyes with human eyes to make them appear more likeable in their adversiting where pigs are depicted :-). So yes I can understand you don't fancy that. Most often nowadays our only contact with pigs would be with dead ones and those on photos as pig are tucked away in isolation away from any potential sources of illness.

[abcdefg]

@Skylee, I didn't know that. The village people here have still been saying 大年三十 I think, though I would not swear to it.

I've had a great deal of difficulty with the local lingo. I've been told that what people here talk is a blend of the Yi minority language and a mountain dialect 方言, neither of which can be understood only a few kilometers away in Hani territory. The young people speak intelligible Putonghua, but the older folks speak it with a very heavy accent, if at all.

Last night I was with a group for supper and a thirty-something guy sitting next to me said, "Sorry about my bad Chinese. I learned it as a young kid in school, but have not used it since." It's a big drawback to traveling here, even though everyone is friendly.