Jewish and Islamic law forbid the eating of pork. Unfortunately, this prohibition was often used to mock the followers of these religions. Although popular reasoning now claims that these prohibitions were to prevent the diseases associated with pork, early philosophers believed they were a rejection of pagan practices which often used the pig as a sacrificial animal or holiday food. In spite of all its wicked attributes, the pig symbolizes good luck, prosperity, thrift, and savings. Even today, piggy banks are given to children.
Sows represent female fertility.
In Germany, it was once the custom to award a pig to the loser in races. In Ancient Egypt, the sky-goddess, Nut, was depicted as a sow suckling or swallowing her piglets which are the sun and the stars. According to their beliefs, Nut would swallow the stars every morning and vomit them into the sky every evening. She would also swallow her piglet, the sun, every evening and spit him out in the morning. In this way, the sun and the stars were reborn each day before beginning their journeys across the sky.