Latest / Journey to the Fringe / Fringe Mini: enjoy your Christmas whipping

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Fringe Mini: enjoy your Christmas whipping · Journey to the Fringe

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  I just realized that I have a chance to redeem
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  myself. Kind of. It's a little late now. Let's
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  go through the categories. Pretty sure this is
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  bad. Feel good. I feel like it's been forever
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  since I've read these. Dealers choice. Don't
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  pick that one because it's full of already done.
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  Feel bad. Now with equal amount of bad news,
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  I'm going to say. And feeling like a Christmas
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  mini. You know what? I think this actually comes
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  out the day before Christmas. So we are feeling
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  like a Christmas. Yes! Yes. Yes we are. Oh good,
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  because last week I forgot that I had it. Okay,
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  so let's check this off. There's only one in
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  here, so I hope it's good for all that pressure
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  that I had on this feeling like a Christmas.
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  It needed its entire own category. I'm a little
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  worried right now. This one is from Atlas Obscura,
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  which is not a news source at all. It was posted
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  December 6, 2023, so it's right on par with the
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  news sources I use, though it's not a news source,
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  by Anna Richards. Beware the Christmas cannibal
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  of France. How a whip -wielding butcher became
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  Saint Nick's sidekick. A butcher, a man with
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  a whip, and a jolly bishop walk into a bar. This
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  is not, in fact, the opening line of a twisted
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  joke. its preparation for the biggest day of
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  the year in Nancy, an elegant city in France's
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  Lorraine region. St. Nicholas Day is celebrated
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  across many European countries on December 6th
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  or the weekend following it. Each evening in
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  Nancy, probably not pronounced Nancy at all,
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  but it looks exactly like Nancy, so that's how
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  I'm going to say it. From late November till
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  early January, a lights display projects a story
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  onto the opulent facade of the Hotel de Ville.
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  The expectant crowd watches as three children
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  knock on the door of a local butcher, only to
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  be chopped up into little pieces and left to
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  cure in a salting pot. Falling snowflakes are
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  replaced with chunks of veal. You might be wondering
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  what this gruesome scene has to do with Saint
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  Nicholas, who is the predecessor of Saint Santa
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  Claus. Often throughout Europe, Saint Nicholas
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  is said to be accompanied by an evil nemesis
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  designed to frighten children into good behavior.
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  Germany has Hans Trapp, Holland has Zwarte Piet,
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  and is best known for the Krampus, a horned beast
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  that charges the crowd with threatening roars.
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  In the Lorraine region of France, St. Nicholas's
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  companion is called Père Fouettard, meaning Father
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  Whipper or Father Pluck. He has a bit of a kinky
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  vagabond look, wearing ragged clothes, donning
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  a straggly black beard, and carrying a whip and
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  a chain. He's also a butcher, and he attempts
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  to eat children. How did St. Nicholas get paired
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  with a whip -wielding cannibal? The answer starts
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  over 1 ,500 years ago with the origin of Santa
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  Claus and evolved over the centuries thanks to
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  a miraculous medieval battle in France, a heavy
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  sprinkle of rumors and some extraordinary embellishments.
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  It's widely believed that St. Nicholas was from
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  present -day Turkey. He was likely the bishop
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  of Mira, born toward the end of the 4th century
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  in Patera. It's said he performed miracles as
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  an infant and during his life. infant performing
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  miracles. I'm really curious how this is gonna
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  end with this person whipping and eating kids.
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  Yeah, me too. The bishop died on December 6,
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  343. I wasn't used to seeing a year like that.
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  It was believed his body produced an oil that
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  held healing properties gross, which scientists
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  think was actually water from the damp tomb.
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  That's even worse, isn't it? Not that any of
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  them are good. In the 11th century, merchants
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  from Italy launched a quest to retrieve his body.
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  They were successful. The bishop's remains were
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  exhumed and brought to bury. Word spread and
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  people all over Europe wanted a peace. During
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  the first crusade, 1096 -99, a Lord of Lorraine
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  raided St. Nicholas's tomb in Italy, severed
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  the tip of his finger, brought it back to his
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  French homeland, and built a church to house
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  the relic in St. Nicholas's depor - I've heard
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  about this! I've heard about the church with
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  the like - skeleton finger in it. The saint therefore
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  became highly revered throughout Lorraine. A
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  few centuries later, Saint Nicholas is thought
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  to have saved the people in his region during
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  battle. In 1476, Charles the Bold laid siege
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  to the city of Nancy. Charles had been overtaking
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  much of France, so it should have been an easy
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  win. Food within the city was running out and
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  many citizens resorted to eating rats. Quote,
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  it's thought many of the inhabitants turned to
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  cannibalism during the siege out of desperation.
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  end quote, adds Nadia Hardy, a historical guide
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  in Nancy. But Rene II, Duke of Lorraine, prayed
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  for victory over St. Nicholas's severed phalange,
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  now over a millennium old. Miraculously, Nancy
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  won the battle. St. Nicholas became the hero
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  of the story and the region's patron saint. Well,
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  where does the whipper come in? But what of his
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  whipping? There was cannibalism there. Yeah,
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  there was. We already had the cannibalism. Story
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  of Pere Futard comes from another battle in Lorraine
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  in 1552 wait wait yep why do we have to start
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  with that okay i don't know if the first one
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  was related to be honest okay in 1552 Charles
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  V. 5. King of Spain, an emperor of the Holy Roman
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  Empire, laid siege to the neighbouring city of
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  Metz. Citizens created a grotesque effigy of
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  Charles V, which they paraded through the streets
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  before publicly burning him. Made by whipping,
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  wielding tanners, the effigy became known as
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  Pere Fuchard, Father Whipper, an enemy of Saint
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  Nicholas. Oh! They become friends, apparently.
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  At some point along the way, the figure gets
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  mixed in with the sprinkle of cannibalism. Maybe
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  it was the other warb where the cannibalism comes
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  from, I don't know. Another legend tells of a
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  butcher named Lenoir, or Peter Black, who chopped
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  up three unfortunate children. He left them to
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  marinate in a barrel for seven years before he
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  received a knock at the door, a surprise visitor,
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  a hungry Saint Nicholas who the butcher recognized
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  instantly. Loathe to feed human flesh to such
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  a holy man he claimed he had no food left. St.
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  Nicholas placed three fingers on the salting
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  barrel and resurrected the children, who, far
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  from experiencing any profound trauma one might
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  expect, felt as though they'd been awoken from
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  a deep slumber. Quote, it's likely that the stories
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  of The Butcher and Perry Futard merged over time,
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  Hardy explained. Today, in Nancy, the two characters
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  are instricably intertwined every December. Not
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  only is there a projection of the tale, the townspeople
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  also re - to act this story. Quote, I've watched
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  the St. Nicholas parade ever since I was a child,
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  says the man playing Perry Furtard this year.
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  The performer asked to remain anonymous to preserve
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  the magic, he said. I want my character to disgust
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  people, not scare them. The actor rubs dirt all
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  over his face, attaches a long and dark beard,
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  blackens out some of his teeth, and adorns a
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  hooded brown cape. He makes a guttural growl
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  like a dog and heads out to the festivities.
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  After the butcher, Perry Futard and St. Nicholas
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  drink their pre -parade beverage. The event begins
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  in town. During the reenactment, three local
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  children visit the butcher and are depicted as
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  being sliced, quartered, and salted. Christmassy.
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  Salvation appears in the form of Saint Nick,
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  a stride, a brightly lived carnival float who
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  resurrects the children. The butcher then morphs
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  into Perry Foutard, doomed to follow Saint Nicholas
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  and dole out punishments to naughty children.
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  He springs up in the crowd with his whip, giving
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  out coal or sometimes turnips and potatoes. Saint
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  Nicholas then climbs to the balcony of the Hotel
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  de Ville to greet the crowds. The mayor of Nancy
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  presents him with a set of keys to the town.
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  and the Christmas tree and Art Nouveau streetlights
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  crackle to life again. The butcher and Perry
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  Foutard have both been overcome and must wait
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  another year to scare the children of France
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  into... That was beautiful. Yeah, I guess. Visit
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  France! Yeah, visit France. The Europeans, they
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  have a very different idea of like how children
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  should be interacting with Christmas. Yep, they
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  love to eat them and torture them. And I'm so
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  happy that we are able to bring you this Christmas
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  miracle on Christmas Eve for you all to enjoy.
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  Yep. And hey, you guys, you know what? I don't
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  think we have to tell you to like to fill the
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  next 48 hours. I think you're going to be busy.
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  So just we'll see you here on Friday. Yeah, goodbye.