Father Christmas and His Assistant Père Fouettard

Saint Nicholas Day is December 6th. In many parts of the world this day is celebrated with St. Nicholas visiting cities and homes where he distributes gifts to children. This tradition goes back to the Middle Ages and earlier which is why it has been able to survive both the Protestant Reformation with its efforts to do away with the veneration of saints and the secular revolutions of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries which sought to restrict or abolish religious practices altogether. However, while people refused to give up popular traditions and holidays like St. Nicholas Day, some compromise was in order with the result that the traditions surrounding St. Nicholas and his feast day have evolved and changed with the times. With his feast day being so close to Christmas, the celebration of St. Nicholas day and Christmas tended to merge in many countries with St. Nicholas becoming a part of the Christmas celebration and his feast day downplayed. In many places he also under went a name change becoming Father Christmas in England and some of her dominions, Père Noël (which translates to Father Christmas) in France, Santa Claus (this was not really a name change since it is the anglicized form St. Nicholas in Dutch which is Sinterklaas) in the United States, etc.

In France it is Père Noël who distributes gifts to good little children. Now days he generally distributes gifts on Christmas Eve except in eastern France where the old traditions persist and he observes the traditional St. Nicholas Day by distributing his gifts on the night of December 5th.

In France Père Noël is traditionally accompanied by an assistant named Père Fouettard. Père Fouettard has been accompanying Père Noël since at least the Middle Ages, making him a part of a long tradition associated with the season. Fouettard has a dark, ruffian like appearance and in the past his task was to punish the children who had been bad while St. Nicholas / Père Noël rewarded the good children with gifts. In the past, children were told that Fouettard would punish children who had been bad with a spanking while Père Noël would reward those who had been good with candy or other small gift. Like Père Noël / St. Nicholas, Fouettard has evolved with the times and in our present, kinder and gentler era, his role as the spanker of naughty children is downplayed or not mentioned at all.

Père Fouettard's connection to St. Nicholas dates back to the fourth century and his story actually represents both the existence of evil in the world and God's infinite mercy. According to legend, Fouettard is the butcher in the legend of St. Nicholas and the three boys.

Among the many loving miracles attributed to St. Nicholas is the story of his bringing back to life three young boys who had been murdered by a wicked butcher. One version of the story tells of a famine in the land and three young boys who become lost while out searching the fields for food missed by the harvest. In other versions the boys simply become lost while wandering in the fields. As night begins to descend they spy a butcher's shop and knock on the door seeking shelter for the night. The butcher opens the door and invites them in. But, instead of giving them food and shelter for the night, the butcher kills the boys and then hacks their bodies to pieces and throws the pieces into a barrel of brine (salt water) along with a butchered pig that he is preserving in the brine. His intention, of course, is to increase his profit by including the boys' remains as part of the pork he is selling.

Some time later there is another knock at the door and when the butcher opens the door he sees St. Nicholas standing in the doorway. Since the butcher's encounter with St. Nicholas occurred after the death of the saint, the butcher instantly knows that St. Nicholas has come for the murdered boys. Stepping past the butcher, St. Nicholas makes his way to the barrel and tells the three boys to arise and come to him. All three are immediately made whole and come to life. Stepping out of the barrel, the boys spoke of being asleep and dreaming of Heaven.

Watching from his position by the doorway, the butcher suddenly became remorseful and repentant for what he had done. St. Nicholas assured him that God forgave all sinners who repented regardless of the sin. Feeling both ashamed for what he had done and gratitude toward St. Nicholas for undoing the damage resulting from his crime, the butcher chose to follow St. Nicholas from the shop and has been at the saint's side through the ages, not as the slave or servant of the saint but as a loyal follower showing his gratitude by helping where he can. At least that is the story, or a variation of the story, that has been told in France and the surrounding areas for centuries about how Père Fouettard came to accompany St. Nicholas.