The Bitard is a fabulous animal. It is the symbol of the ' or Order of the Venerated Bitard (May He be Blessed!), a

student association A students' union or student union, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, organization ...

University of Poitiers The University of Poitiers (UP; , ) is a public university located in Poitiers, France. It is a member of the Coimbra Group. It is multidisciplinary and contributes to making Poitiers the city with the highest student/inhabitant ratio in France ...

(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 A ''faluche'' is a traditional cap worn by students in France. It is a black velvet beret, decorated with colored ribbons and badges. Several student groups wear the ''faluche'', especially ''bitards'', ''basochards'', and ''faluchards''. Pre ...

, the traditional French Student cap. The Bitards' faluche has the particularity of being decorated with a chevron and having its own code for the signification of insignias. The folklore of the Order refers to

François Rabelais François Rabelais ( , ; ; born between 1483 and 1494; died 1553) was a French writer who has been called the first great French prose author. A Renaissance humanism, humanist of the French Renaissance and Greek scholars in the Renaissance, Gr ...

as the word ' appears twice in hunting outcomes in '' Pantagruel''. Each year, the Order organizes a one-week festival, called the ' (69th Students' Week). Various festive activities happen during this week, including a procession, 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.Les Bitards entre "deuxième sec" et "nouvelle quéquette"
Centre Presse, 25 avril 2016

Notes and references

{{reflist Drinking culture Student culture History of Poitiers University folklore