news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050815/ap_on_fe_st/france_pig_squealers
AP Father, Son Win French Pig Squeal-Off By LAURENCE FROST, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 38 minutes ago TRIE-SUR-BAISE, France - Yohann and Olivier Roussel's performance climaxe d in a cacophony of oinks and grunts, unleashing an explosion of applaus e But it was only after lengthy jury deliberations that their hopes wer e confirmed the father-and-son team were France's official Pig-Squeali ng Champions for 2005.
The judges, headed by a former champion, had been impressed by their voca l imitations of pigs in all four of the required categories, reflecting key milestones of porcine existence: from noisy farmyard birth to death under the knife, via suckling and inevitably mating. France's handful of "fetes folles," or crazy festivals, attract a regular cult following and throngs of incredulous holidaymakers. But the annual Pig Festival and French Pig-Squealing Championships in Tri e-sur-Baise, a remote farming village in the foothills of the Pyrenees, are acknowledged to be in a class of their own. Besides the pig-squealing, there were awards in the Sunday competition fo r pigging out this year's winner ate 12 meters (nearly 4 feet) of blo od sausage in under five minutes and heavy gambling on the final eight -piglet race. Stepping up to the microphone in hastily improvised pig outfits the dec ision to enter the competition had been taken only the night before th e Roussels let rip with a chorus of uncannily realistic squeals, grunts and snuffles before the 500-strong audience, topped with a delicately ch oreographed courtship scene. Newcomers to the contest from nearby Pouy-Loubrin, they beat off six othe r finalists including regular contender Jean-Paul Louge. But the pair mo destly downplayed their win as they waited to collect first prize: a who le pig, butchered and cured with traditional local methods. "We still have work to do to perfect the pig act," said Olivier, 40, his 20-year-old son Yohann nodding agreement. Louge, who placed sixth, was equally gracious in defeat, stressing that t he contest was just a bit of fun. Contestants and spectators travel to the Pig Festival from across the cou ntry and beyond; in past years, its antics have also been witnessed by t elevision viewers in countries from Germany to Korea. "You are Entering Pig Country," road signs advise motorists on the main a pproaches to the village, home to 1,100 people. For most of the year, however, that's just a sad anachronism. Once the re gion's economic backbone, pig farming has industrialized, globalized and moved elsewhere. The old pig market, one of France's largest with up to 7,500 animals sold daily until the decline took root in the late 1970s, now stands silent. But one Sunday every August, this corner of France's deep south becomes t he heart of Pig Country once again. Bunting and pig-themed posters adorn trees and roadsides. Local waitresses all sport pig tails and not the kind you wear on your head. "The Pig Festival came about to stop us forgetting about our past," said Jean-Claude Theze, an ex-farmer who now runs one of the cafes in Trie-su r-Baise. The village offers as good a symbol as any of modern France's agricultura l underbelly and the fierce struggle waged by its rural communities to h old onto identities and livelihoods. Faced with a collapse in pork prices, some farmers have moved into beef a nd higher-value black pigs, which can't be produced so intensively. The villagers are not letting the championship's global exposure go to th eir heads, Theze said. It's about spreading a bit of happiness, that's all we just hope people might come back another day."
French contender in the French Pig-Squealing Championships, Jacques B arrot, performs in the annual Pig festival in Trie-sur-Baise, a remote f arming village in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains, southern Fran ce, Sunday, Aug. The contestants compete by their vocal imitat ions of pigs in the required categories: From noisy farmyard birth to de ath under the knife, via suckling and inevitably mating.
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