Editing Bitard

{{Short description|French symbol}}
[[File:LogoBitard2.jpg|thumb|right|Representation of the Bitard: beech marten head, carp body, turkey and peacock feathers, hare paws and academic palms<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ordredubitard.fr/ |title=L'Ordre du Vénéré Bitard (L.S.T. !)|language=French}}</ref>]]
The '''Bitard''' is a [[fabulous animal]]. It is the symbol of the ''{{Lang|fr|Ordre du Vénéré Bitard (Loué Soit-Il !)}}'' or Order of the Venerated Bitard (May He be Blessed!), a [[student association]] of [[University of Poitiers]] (France) created in the 1920s. The members themselves are also called '''Bitards''' and in some occasions they wear a cape colored according to their rank in the Order, along with a [[faluche]], the traditional French [[Student cap]]. The Bitards' faluche has the particularity of being decorated with a [[Chevron (insignia)|chevron]] and having its own code for the signification of insignias. The folklore of the Order refers to [[François Rabelais]] as the word ''{{Lang|fr|bitard}}'' appears twice in hunting outcomes in ''[[Gargantua and Pantagruel|Pantagruel]]''.<ref name="ÉtudesRabel_2006">{{Cite journal|language=French|title=La chasse au Bitard des étudiants poitevins: Panurge bachelier |first1=C |last1=Escarmant |first2=JL |last2=Le Quellec |journal=Études rabelaisiennes |year=2006 |url=http://rupestre.on-rev.com/page0/page3/assets/EtudesRabel_2006.pdf |format=PDF}}</ref>

Each year, the Order organizes a one-week festival, called the ''{{Lang|fr|69<sup>e</sup> Semaine estudiantine}}'' (69th Students' Week). Various festive activities happen during this week, including a procession,<ref>{{Cite video|url=http://www.ina.fr/economie-et-societe/education-et-enseignement/video/RXF05005382/l-ordre-du-bitard-a-poitiers.fr.html |title=L'ordre du bitard à Poitiers |date=1968 |publisher=Institut national de l'audiovisuel |language=French}}</ref> drinking events and a Bitard hunting. There is also a fresco depicting the hunting of the Bitard on an interior wall of the Roche-d'Argent university restaurant (located in downtown Poitiers, near the Saint-Jean baptistery). A concrete statue of a phallus, called "quéquette" or "blanche verge et les sept mains", erected by the Order of the Bitard in 1976 on the Poitiers campus, is a folk symbol for Poitiers students. The sculpture accidentally destroyed, during construction, in October 2015, was rebuilt, in April 2016.<ref>[http://www.centre-presse.fr/article-454666-les-bitards-entre-deuxieme-sec-et-nouvelle-quequette.html Les Bitards entre "deuxième sec" et "nouvelle quéquette"], Centre Presse, 25 avril 2016</ref>

==Notes and references==
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[[Category:Drinking culture]]
[[Category:Student culture]]
[[Category:History of Poitiers]]
[[Category:University folklore]]