Note 1352 — Chapter XVI · GUILD FOOLS AND COURT FOOLS
Reading edition
F. Guérard, Les Fous de Saint-Germain, in Mélanges d’Hist. et d’Arch. (Amiens, 1861), 17. On the Saturday before the first Sunday in May children in the rue St. Germain carry boughs, singing
‘Saint Germain, coucou, Ch’est l’fette d’chés fous, &c.’
In the church they used to place a bottle crowned with yellow primroses, called ‘coucous.’ The dwellers in the parish are locally known as ‘fous,’ and an historical myth is told to account for this. Probably May-day has here merged with St. Germain’s Day (May 2) in a ‘fête des fous.’ Payments for decking the church appear in old accounts.