Le Père Fouettard

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Le Père Fouettard (French for The whipping Father) is a character who accompanies St. Nicholas in his rounds at Christmas dispensing lumps of coal and/or floggings to the naughty children while St. Nick gives gifts to the well behaved. He is known mainly in the Eastern regions of France, although similar characters exist all over Europe (see Companions of Saint Nicholas).

[edit] History

The most popular story of his origin claims that he was a butcher who captured three children and killed them. St. Nicholas discovered the crime and resurrected the children. After this, Le Père Fouettard repented and became St. Nick's partner. A slightly altered version of this story claims that St. Nicholas forced Le Père Fouettard to become his accomplice as a punishment for his crimes.

Another story states that during the siege of Metz (a city in Eastern France[]) in 1552, an effigy of king Charles Quint was burned and dragged through the city. Meanwhile, an association of tanners (people who tanned hides for a living) created a grotesque character (also a tanner) armed with a whip and bound in chains that punished children. After Metz was liberated, the effigy of Charles Quint and the character created by the tanners somehow assimilated into what is now known as Le Père Fouettard. Events surrounding the city's liberation and the burning of the effigy coincided with the passage of St. Nicholas, hence Le Père Fouettard became his "bad cop" counterpart.

The most common depiction of Le Père Fouettard would be of a man with a sinister face dressed in dark robes with scraggly unkempt hair and a long beard. He is armed with either a whip, a large stick, or with bundles of switches. Some incarnations of the character have him wearing a wicker back pack in which children can be placed and carried away. Often, his face is darkened to varying degrees. Some say it is because of his being born of a burned effigy, others say that it is from the soot in the chimneys that he goes down with St. Nicholas. Usually his face is merely smudged with dark marks, but in some cases his face is completely dark. In other depictions, he is nearly identical to Saint Nicholas, but is wearing a black suit instead of a red one.

In the Alsace region, Le Père Fouettard is known as Hans Trapp. In the 1930s, he appeared in the United States under the translated name Father Flog. Although almost identical to the original French personification, Father Flog had nothing to do with Christmas and also had a female accomplice named Mother Flog. The two doled out specific punishments for specific childhood crimes (i.e. cutting out the tongue for lying).

To some, Le Père Fouettard is synonymous with the bogeyman.

[edit] Le Père Fouettard in Popular Culture

French singer Jaques Dutronc mentions Le Père Fouettard in his song "La Fille du Père Noël" ("Father Christmas's daughter"). Another French pop star, Alain DeLorme mentioned him in the song "Venez Venez St. Nicolas"

There is a restaurant named Le Père Fouettard at 9 Rue Pierre Lescot, in Paris which features "Classic Parisian Fare".

Robert Schumann composed a piano piece in 1848 most commonly known as Knecht Ruprecht (a similar character, see Companions of Saint Nicholas), but in some cases the piece is called Le Père Fouettard

Brasserie Henry brews a Père Fouettard Biere