Le Père Fouettard
Encyclopedia
Companions of Saint Nicholas
The companions of Saint Nicholas are a group of closely related figures who accompany St. Nicholas in many European traditions.Some companions include:...
). This "Whipping Father" was said to bring a stick with him to spank all of the naughty kids who misbehaved.
Origin
The most popular story about the origin of Le Père Fouettard was first told in the year 1150. An Inn Keeper (or in other versions a butcher) captures three boys who appear to be wealthy and on their way to enroll in a religious boarding school. Along with his wife, he kills the children in order to rob them. One gruesome version tells that they drug the children, slit their throats, cut them into pieces, and stew them in a barrel. St. Nicholas discovers the crime and resurrects the children. After this, Le Père Fouettard repents and becomes St. Nick's partner. A slightly altered version of this story claims that St. Nicholas forced Le Père Fouettard to become his assistant as a punishment for his crimes.Another story states that during the siege of Metz
Metz
Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...
(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
Tanning
Tanning is the making of leather from the skins of animals which does not easily decompose. Traditionally, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name . Coloring may occur during tanning...
created a grotesque character (also a tanner) armed with a whip and bound in chains that punished children. After Metz was liberated, the charred 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.
In the 1930s, Le Père Fouettard appeared in the United States under the translated name Father Flog or Spanky. 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 (e.g. cutting out the tongue for lying).
Similar Characters
Le Père Fouettard is similar if not identical to numerous characters that perform the same function. Knecht RuprechtKnecht Ruprecht
In the folklore of Germany, Knecht Ruprecht, which translates as Farmhand Rupert or Servant Rupert, is a companion of Saint Nicholas. He first appears in written sources in the 17th century, as a figure in a Nuremberg Christmas procession....
, a tradition of the Germanic People, is probably the best known of these characters. In the Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
region, Le Père Fouettard is known as Hans Trapp. In Switzerland, Schmutzli is nearly identical. Hans Muff, Pelzebock, Drapp or Buzeberg are also used in various parts of Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
. In the Netherlands and Flanders they have Zwarte Piet
Zwarte Piet
In the folklore and legends of the Netherlands and Belgium, Zwarte Piet is a companion of Saint Nicholas whose yearly feast in the Netherlands is usually celebrated on the evening of 5 December In the folklore and legends of the Netherlands and Belgium, Zwarte Piet (meaning Black Pete) is a...
, although he isn't as scary to kids.
Similar traditions in the Alpine regions have characters that are more bestial and range from a goat to an actual demon or devil. The most popular of these characters is Krampus
Krampus
Krampus is a mythical creature recognized in Alpine countries. According to legend, Krampus accompanies St. Nicholas during the Christmas season, warning and punishing bad children, in contrast to St. Nicholas, who gives gifts to good children....
, other similar/identical characters include Klaubauf, Bartel, Bellzebub, and Čert (Devil).
In some traditions, the bringer of gifts and the bringer of punishment are fused into one. Rumpelklas, Pelzebock, Pelznickel, Belzeniggl, and Belsnickel
Belsnickel
Belsnickel is the fur-clad Santa of the Palatinate in southwestern Germany along the Rhine, the Saarland, and the Odenwald region of Baden-Württemberg....
are examples of this tradition.
In Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
, Le Père Fouettard is synonymous with the bogeyman
Bogeyman
A bogeyman is an amorphous imaginary being used by adults to frighten children into compliant behaviour...
.
Appearance
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. Sometimes he merely carries a large bundle of sticks on his back (some speculate that the photograph on the cover of Led Zeppelin IVLed Zeppelin IV
The fourth album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin was released on 8 November 1971. No title is printed on the album, so it is generally referred to as Led Zeppelin IV, following the naming standard used by the band's first three studio albums...
is Le Père Fouettard). 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. In other representations, Le Père Fouettard is identical to the Dutch character Zwarte Piet
Zwarte Piet
In the folklore and legends of the Netherlands and Belgium, Zwarte Piet is a companion of Saint Nicholas whose yearly feast in the Netherlands is usually celebrated on the evening of 5 December In the folklore and legends of the Netherlands and Belgium, Zwarte Piet (meaning Black Pete) is a...
(Black Peter). Further renderings of the character show him as being nearly identical to Saint Nicholas or Santa Claus, but wearing a black suit instead of a red one.
Le Père Fouettard in Pop Culture
- Jacques DutroncJacques DutroncJacques Dutronc is a French singer, songwriter, guitarist, composer, and actor. He has been married to singer Françoise Hardy since 30 March 1981 and the two have a son . He also has been a longtime songwriting collaborator with Jacques Lanzmann...
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 SchumannRobert SchumannRobert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
composed a piano piece in 1848 most commonly known as Knecht Ruprecht (a similar character, see Companions of Saint NicholasCompanions of Saint NicholasThe companions of Saint Nicholas are a group of closely related figures who accompany St. Nicholas in many European traditions.Some companions include:...
), but in some cases the piece is called Le Père Fouettard.