Chapter 5 - Guild Unity and Discord

Summary

During the period of Carnival, usually the Thursday morning before Lent, the butcher guild chose their prize fattened ox, known as the boeuf gras, decorated it with garlands of flowers and plumes of feathers, paraded it throughout the city, and finally offered it to the first president of parlement on the steps of the palace. On this ceremonial animal's back rode either a young butcher's daughter, or more often, a young boy, named king for the day, donned with a sash of royal blue, a sword, and a scepter. A dozen or more master butchers and their journeymen joined the parade, carrying their knives on their belts like swords, sporting ceremonial dress fitted with red stays, white trusses, and topped with turbans of the same colors. Two butchers led the procession in which they pulled the prized steer along by its horns. Musicians accompanied the others playing tambourines, violins, and fifes.

The tradition of le boeuf gras was one of many such celebratory events that marked the height of meat-eating season, in anticipation of the Lenten fast. For the butchers, this festivity also fell at the end of their working season-no doubt a reason to celebrate. Carnival called for play and mockery as people disguised themselves in costume and indulged in a litany of transgressions. License, gluttony, and crazed disorder ruled in this liminal phase, freed from the hierarchies of Old Regime society.