Fish Fountain Initiations - Munich, Germany
Posted by: Metro2
N 48° 08.231 E 011° 34.569
32U E 691652 N 5334757
"To round off their schooling, young apprentice butchers were sheathed in nothing but a sheepskin and a calf’s penis hanging from their necks, spun around three times and thrown into the fountain."
Waymark Code: WMK62Z
Location: Bayern, Germany
Date Posted: 02/18/2014
Views: 82
Called the Fish fountain, the site has beautiful reliefs on its sides and sculptures of ragged boys with water-spouting pails and fish in the center. Atop the central plinth is a large pufferfish sculpture. Apparently the original artist is unknown but was reconstructed by someone named "Henselman".
This website (
visit link) informs us the strange initiation rite which once took place here:
"Fishmongers kept their fish fresh in the fountain when this was the piscatorial part of the old market. It was the site of bizarre initiation ceremony called the Metzgersprung (Butcher’s Leap) which took place regularly until 1900 and continues in an altered form to this day.
To round off their schooling, young apprentice butchers were sheathed in nothing but a sheepskin and a calf’s penis hanging from their necks, spun around three times and thrown into the fountain.
Only after suffering through this potentially neurosis-inducing ceremony were they allowed to work as fully fledged butchers. It’s now the city’s most-loved meeting point."