Well, hello kids
Do you want to hear a joke?
No?
You'll rather learn something? Well, too bad!
Why is your the rooster the national animal of France?
Because even knee-deep in shit, he still sings.
In France, the Gallic Rooster, or
Coq Gaulois, is everywhere whether it is war monuments, churches and farms,
sport federations, the origins of cinema or your local hipster. Heck!
It's even in French law where it is described as the symbol of vigilance.
But how did that ever come to be? It all started with a clever Roman historian, Suetonius,
who noticed that in Latin rooster - gallus - and Gaul - Gallus - were homonyms.
Supposedly, after that, he gave himself a pat on the back for being so clever.
This association was further anchored when Julius Caesar, in De Bello Gallico,
claimed the Celtic God Lugus was the most important Gallic God, and equated it, per Roman
tradition, to mercury. And what is the emblem of mercury? You guessed it, the rooster.
For the Romans, being Romans, that was enough to paint all the Gauls as roosters.
Soon after, myths started to form. One of which is the origin of Coq au Vin (Rooster cooked in wine),
another French emblem from the Auvergne region.
During the siege of Gergovia, to mock him, Vercingetorix sent a rooster to Caesar as a sign of vainness,
combativity and bravery. In response Caesar invited him for dinner where he had the rooster cooked and served in wine.
Nevertheless, the rooster had never been a symbol of Gaul. First, because as I've discussed in my previous video,
there was no Gaul in question to symbolize. But mostly, because it wasn't even a sacred animal in the Celtic religion.
Tragically this association would come to disappear in the Middle Ages, a Sunday morning somewhere between
500 - 1000 AD. Having drunk too much Beaujolais Nouveau the day before,
(Gerard The Farmer) was understandably upset after the animal fucking woke him up at 6 a.m.
And soon after, the French realised the rooster wasn't really a great animal but rather choleric, lustful, and stupid.
France's enemies thought that, too. And in the 12th century, poets under the service of the Holy Roman Emperor
and the King of England, remembered that in Latin gallus and Gallus are
homonyms, which was quite fitting since the French, or at least, Louis VII and his son,
Philippe Auguste, were as vain as the farm animal. Supposedly, after that, they gave themselves a pat on the back for how clever they were.
The association became à la mode again in the Renaissance, where poets such as Paul Emile and Jean Lemaire,
rediscovering Roman text, incorrectly believed a rooster has been the emblem of Gaul, and as such the oldest emblem of France.
From that and mostly to stick it up to the English,
of course, the French started to embrace it. After all, they thought, the rooster does have many qualities
combativity, vigilance, bravery,
Etc. And even if it is indeed proud and stubborn, well one cannot think of anything more French than that!
But mostly, the rooster was a significant religious symbol, hence
why it adorns so many churches or monuments to the dead. In the Bible, he is considered the most intelligent animal.
He symbolizes the return of the light of day after the darkness of night,
and so will also announce the new arrival of Jesus.
Finally, he is associated to many saints such as the Apostle St. Peter, St. Charlemagne, or St.Tropez.
Understandably, the French didn't feel so bad about it anymore. And from there,
he just grew bigger and bigger as a symbol of patriotism
to the point that under the reigns of De Valois and De Bourbon, the last French dynasty,
the king was often represented with a rooster in engravings and coins. Under Louis XIV,
the rooster, with 'La Fleur de Lys', symbol of French royalty, became a French emblem which now adorns
monuments such as Versailles or the Louvre. But then, the French Revolution happened where,
like the head of Louis XVI and his family, the Fleur de Lys was removed to be entirely replaced by the rooster .
The rooster then becomes an emblem of the revolution, the new Republican France with peasant origins
as the bird itself. Napoleon Bonaparte, however, felt that it wasn't powerful enough
to represent his new French Empire and instead, replaced it with the Roman Eagle.
My suspicions are that his Corsican origins inclined him toward such treachery. But the rooster persisted,
it is after all a stubborn animal, and after the three glorious in 1830,
which is also the name of my first sex tape, (Louis Philippe the First), the very last French sovereign,
decreed that the Gallic rooster must figure on the flags and uniform buttons of the National Guards.
And from then on, the rooster would show up countless times in France, whether it's official seals,
stamps, coins, political parties, cigarettes, World War one and World War two monuments and, since
1951, as the official symbols of French town halls.
And this my friends is how the rooster, or specifically "La Gaulois Dorée", became the unofficial
emblem of France. Unofficial, you may ask? Yes, it's not official.
The official emblem of France is not an animal. Well, unless you are French presidential candidate...
It's Marianne, the Goddess of Liberty whose naked breasts, I swear, feed the people of the revolution.
I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please consider leaving a like,
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This was Barris, I will see you next week, but until then, Merde!