The sign of a former tavern in this neighborhood, it perpetuates the memory of six young jokers seeking zwanzes (a Flemish word for pranks) under the harsh rule of the Spanish Duke of Alba. Examples of their efforts included replacing holy water in the churches with ink and attaching old ladies attending Mass to one another with pins … But the pranks finally ended the day they threw a jar of soot in the face of Jean Vargas, one of Alba’s collaborators. Arrested, they were sentenced to death and hung. Today, the tradition continues because if you examine the sign closely, you’ll see that it only includes four young men, as if some joker had kidnapped the two others in order to upset historians, and who can tell, perhaps one day transform this sign into that of the four Amon sons, of the street just around the corner.
Location of tavern sign at rue des Six-Jeunes-Hommes :
Photos of the tavern sign at rue des Six-Jeunes-Hommes
