The Pig

The autumn day on which the pig is killed, la tuade, is always an event. The butchering is a great deal of work for one person, and two will have their hands full. In Germany one year it took four of us nearly all day; in England my husband and I worked solidly for a day and a half. And in France you involve as many people as possible, because the sooner the pig is disposed of the sooner the jollity can begin. Everybody is invited back later in the week or on the following Sunday for the repas de fête: the slaughterer and his wife, one’s family and friends all arrive for an evening of eating, singing and dancing late into the night.