vip in the city

This little piggy

I noticed this broken pink candy pig on the communal coffee table at the office this evening.

For those (like me) who are unfamiliar, the Peppermint Pig was once part of a holiday tradition that originated in upstate Saratoga Springs in the 1880s. A full century later, Mike Fitzgerald, owner of Saratoga Sweets, was approached by the local Historical Society about reviving the lost tradition. Fitzgerald agreed, and in 1988 he made his first batch of 60 peppermint pigs, using the original recipe and replicas of the antique pig molds. The pigs sold out almost immediately to those nostalgic for the candies of their long-ago childhoods.

The company now handcrafts 130,000 of the holiday pigs a year. (Which I suppose means that we got ours early… or very very late.)

The pig, which is considered a symbol of good health, happiness, and prosperity, comes with a red velveteen pouch and a small silver hammer. It is placed inside the bag (to catch the stray flying shards of hard peppermint candy), and shattered into pieces to be shared among friends and family with hopes of good fortune for the coming year.

Given the drama that often surrounds familial holiday gatherings, just how wise is it to be passing around a hammer?  Just askin’.