Graoully

In French folklore, the Graoully (spelled as Graouli, Graouilly, Graouille or Graully) is a creature with the appearance of a dragon.

Graoully was also used in the local Oscan Games from the twelfth century till the start of the French Revolution.

It started in the eleventh century when three banners were carried in the procession of Saint Mark during Rogation days.

The French Renaissance writer François Rabelais described the Graoully's effigy during a procession of the sixteenth century:[2] It was a monstrous, hideous effigy, terrifying for small children, with eyes bigger than the stomach, and a head bigger than the rest of the body, with horrific, wide jaws and lots of teeth which were made to clash by the use of a cord, making terrible noises as if the dragon of Saint Clement was actually in Metz.The construction of the effigy continued to evolve and in the 18th century, it was constructed as a canvas figure filled with hay and twelve feet high.

Every baker in front of whom the procession passed, picked up a half-pound white bun and gave it to the bearer of the dragon.

There is also a representation of Graoully on a house in the rue de la Marne in Sarrebourg and in a room in the Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg.