Tarasque · The Man-Eating Beast by the River

Tarascon, on the Rhône, takes its name from a legendary beast, the Tarasque: half animal and half fish, with six legs, a bull’s head and a serpent’s tail, lying in the reeds by the river and eating people.

Saint Martha is said to have tamed it with prayer and led it into the village, where the villagers killed it. Every year since, the village makes an effigy of it, parades it through the streets and burns it in public.

While the procession passes, you must not laugh and must not look back; that is the old rule. Once the effigy is burned, the year is over.

Folklore / Provence · France / Time immemorial