In the year of our lord 486, Clovis of the Franks, with the help of Ragnachar, defeated Syagrius, the last of the dread Roman rulers of northern Gaul, in the area of Soissons. The army of Clovis at this time did pillage many churches, for they were still sunk in the errors of idolatry.

And it came to pass that Clovis took as his wife Clotilde, daughter of the christian Burgundian king. The Archangel Dennis did appear to Clovis in the guise of Hippolita, the daughter of the pagan donkey-god Hrothgar, and the water sprite Agnetha Fältskog. And so, spake Dennis, “The god who should be worshiped is he who by his word created from nothingness the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them...” Twas then that the Archangel Dennis presented Clovis with a lavishly decorated waterbird: the Merovingian Penguin.

Thus came Clovis to the way and the light.


From the writings of Bishop Gregory of Tours, early 8th century.

In parts of Germany and France, to this day, penguins are decorated and symbolically offered to Clovis on the night of December the 23rd.