The Child Eater of Bern
A 500 year old scuplture depicts a man eating a sack of babies, and no one is sure why
Category Unusual Monuments, Strange Statues, Memento Mori
Standing in the middle of Bern, Switzerland, is the Kindlifresser, or “Child Eater.” The fountain sculpture towers above the ground a baby half stuffed into his mouth, and a sack full of three alarmed tots slung over its shoulder presumably for later snacking. The disturbing sculpture is no modern work of art; built in 1546, it is one of the oldest fountains in the city of Bern.
Strangely, no one is exactly sure why it’s there. There are three main theories. The first and most unfortunate possibility is that the Kindlifresser was built as a sort of warning to the Jewish community of Bern. The Kindlifresser wears a hat that is strikingly similar to the yellow pointed Judenhut that Jews were forced to wear at that time.
The second theory is that the terrifying Ogre is a depiction of Kronos, the Greek Titan. Kronos has arguably one of the most disturbing stories in Greek Mythology. Long story short, Kronos eats all his god children to keep them from taking over his throne.
The final theory is that the Kindlifresser is supposed to be the older brother of Duke Berchtold, the founder of Bern. Apparently the jealousy of being overshadowed by his younger brother for so many years caused him to go mad, eventually sending him into a rage where he collected and ate the town's children.(It would seem likely that this event would have been recorded in the towns history books, which it is not.)
It may of course be none of the above, and is simply a sort of boogie man from Switzerland’s Fastnacht, or “Nearly Night” festival, a way to remind the Children of Bern to behave. Whatever the Kindlifresser represents, it has terrified Swiss children for over 500 years, and hopefully, will still be there to terrify them 500 years in the future.
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- Address Kindlifresserbrunnen?, Bern, Switzerland
Comments
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Anonymous
June 25, 2009
That is the chindlifrasser which translates to baby devouring. Frassen is a german word which means to eat like an animal. He is a kind of boogieman. Parents used to tell their children to be good or the chindlifrassser would come and get them. -
Anonymous
June 6, 2009
Uh, "Fastnacht" isn't just "fast" and "Nacht" stuck together; the etymology is more complicated and not really certain. There's something about it in the wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fastnacht
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Anonymous
June 5, 2009
wow, what? Where is lilith? in the picture? is she one of the babies? is the baby eater john galt? Are you off your meds again?
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Anonymous
June 5, 2009
Another theory is that the people who run switzerland are essentially satan worshippers whose bold displays blind the people to this truth. It could just be Lillith who was Adams first wife who wanted to be his competitor instead of his partner. The economic manipulation done from switzerland has the result of making the woman and man rivals instead of partners. Try that on for size.
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