Overview
The Korea National Folk Museum presents a special exhibition, "Joyous Pig" to celebrate the Year of the Golden Pig 2019. This exhibition features the pig as a medium in both the sacred and the human world. A pig is the twelfth sign among the twelve zodiac animals. It has been a holy guardian as well as a close companion to mankind since the beginning of the history.

The exhibition is organized in three parts:

Prologue
Part 1: The Guardian of Mankind
Part 2: The Companion of Our Ancestors
Part 3: The Portrait of Modern Society
Epilogue
We wish to share stories regarding diverse symbolic representations of pigs through this exhibition. In addition, we wish you the best of luck in the year of the Golden Pig.

Prologue
The Wu Xing theory 五行, The Five Elements theory was developed to describe the interactions of the planets closest to Earth; Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, Venus, and Mars. In olden days, people believed the movements of the stars had an impact on the affairs of the human world. Thus, the theory of 12 zodiacs was born. The last branch of the twelve, the Pig symbolizes water among five elements, in directions and 21 o'clock to 23 o'clock in time period.

Chapter 1 The Guardian of Mankind
The wild boars were considered dangerous as 'evil spirits' in the primitive society. However, shamans successfully reincarnated the negative images of them into benign 'Guardian of Villages' over time. Anecdotally, Zhu Bajie豬八戒, a personification of an evil pig in the 'Journey to the West 西遊記 a Chinese novel', converts into a patron saint after joining Xuanzang三藏法師 a buddhist monk. The twelve guardians appear as the reincarnations of Bodhisattva. According to Bhaisajyaguru faith, Bi Gal La毘乫羅大將, also known as the deity during the time of Hae 亥, 21:00〜23:00, is a patron who provides clothing for the poor.

Chapter 2 Companion of Our Ancestors
Pigs joined the human world from the sacred kingdom, became amiable companions and lived among us in harmony. Pigs were used as sacred sacrifices to propose strong unity between villages, and they were engraved and carved onto the traditional roof tiles of edifices. Pigs frequently appear in Korean history and culture including Sam Guk Ji三國志, Records of the Three Kingdoms, DottongsiThe traditional toilets in Jeju , and Jeoga豬加,administrative district in Buyeo Dynasty. Needless to say, steamed pork dish served with Samhaeju三亥酒, traditional liquor bring much happiness for all!

Chapter 3 The Portrait of Modern Society
The Baby Boomers of 1959 celebrate their 60th birthday this year. Today was the future that they dreamed of 60 years ago during the very difficult period of Korean history. The pigs guided them to dream for wealth and better future. The 'piggy bank' reminded them to 'conserve and save', and the 'Pig of Jeung-ja曾子,Chinese Philosopher' recalled the value of integrity even in harsh conditions of the time. We now dream of our tomorrow – United Nation of Korea, through the ‘golden pig’ which was considered as a lucky omen during the age of three Kingdoms三國時代.

Epilogue
Twelve zodiac animals participate in sports competition. All animals root for their own kinds. The Rat wins the first place in the marathon, the highlight of the event. When the Fog crosses the finish line taking the eleventh place, the last runner, Pig is nowhere to be seen. The Pig doesn’t have pores to sweat off the heat, so it took some time rolling in the mud to cool down and was drenched in a sudden shower. Finally, when the Pig comes into view looking like a mess, everyone shouts "Way to go, Pig!" rooting even louder than before. The Pig, which completed the course all the way through difficulties and the spectators whom cheered even for the last runner, are the heroes of the day altogether.

You are the most precious presence in the world, for we are all one and unique existence in the universe.

Reflections on the Special Exhibition
The pig was the companion of our ancestors and the reflections of our dreams in modern times. For some reason though, the pig has deteriorated into a symbol of obesity or an indication of lack of self-management. We fear that the world is obsessed with appearances, easily diminishing the actual being due to superficial opinions. For once, we need to take time to reflect the meanings of value and face the distorted shadows of our own. We sincerely hope that this special exhibition, "Joyous Pig", would provide an opportunity to discover the true meaning of ‘being beautiful".