Pere Fouettard – Father Whipper

Pere Fouettard – Father Whipper

Pere Fouettard is a French Anti-Santa that arrives on St Nicholas Day to punish naughty children by whipping them. Le Père Fouettard is depicted in red and black clothing, perhaps a throwback to his anti-Roman roots.

The whipping Father has his roots in the 16th-century medieval siege in the city of Metz, a war between the Holy Roman Empire and Henry II of France. The war lasted for 8 years, and during holiday seasons, effigies of the Roman Emperor were made and dragged through the street. Local tanners would whip the effigy as it passed, thus creating Father Whipper in the imaginations of generations to come.