Professional farter

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A Professional farter is a performer who receives payment for expelling flatus in an amusing and/or musical manner. They may also be referred to as Flatulists or Fartistes. [1]

1 Antiquity and Middle Ages
2 19th through 21st Centuries
3 Folklore and Fiction
4 References

[edit] Antiquity and Middle Ages

There are a number of scattered references to ancient and medieval flatulists, who could produce various rhythms and pitches with their intestinal wind. Saint Augustine in City of God (De Civitate Dei) (14.24) mentions some performers who did have

such command of their bowels, that they can break wind continuously at will, so as to produce the effect of singing.

Juan Luis Vives in his 1522 commentary to Augustine's work testifies to having himself witnessed such a feat, a remark referenced by Michel de Montaigne in an essay.

The professional farters of medieval Ireland were called braigetori. They are listed together with other performers and musicians in the 12th century Tech Midchúarda, a diagram of the banqueting hall of Tara. As entertainers, these braigetori ranked at the lower end of a scale headed by bards, fili and harpers.

The occupation of the flatulist appears to have been common at the courts of European nobility during the Dark Ages, and may even have Proto-Germanic roots. The peordh rune of the Anglo-Saxon futhorc has been suggested to be named after the fart based on the rune poem stanza:

Peorð byþ symble plega and hlehter / wlancum [on middum], ðar wigan sittaþ / on beorsele bliþe ætsomne.

([a fart?] is a source of recreation and amusement to the great, where warriors sit blithely together in the banqueting-hall.)

Another widely accepted interpretation links the name to pearwood, suggesting that the poem aludes to a recorder of other wind instrument, since pearwood is traditionally used to carve such musical instruments. [2]

The art of farting was also practiced in the Far East, as is evident from a story dating to the Japanese Kamakura period (1185–1333), set forth in an illustrated scroll, tells of a professional performer of fart dances called Oribe, who tricked his rival into soiling and thus disgracing himself in an attempt to mimick him.

An example of a late medieval flatulist is preserved in an entry in the 13th century English Liber Feodorum (Book of Fees), listing one Roland the Farter, who held Hemingstone manor in the county of Suffolk, for which he was obliged to perform "Unum saltum et siffletum et unum bumbulum" (one jump, one whistle, and one fart) annually at the king Henry II's court every Christmas. But professional farting no longer seems to be restricted to the aristocracy. The Activa Vita character in the 14th century allegorical poem Piers Plowman appears to number farting among the abilities desirable in a good entertainer in general, paralleling with storytelling, fiddling or playing the harp:

Ac for I kan neiþer taboure no trompe ne telle no gestes Farten ne fyþelen at festes, ne harpen

("As for me, I can neither drum nor trumpet, nor tell jokes, nor fart amusingly at parties, nor play the harp.")

Evidence of deliberate farting at social occasions continues into the Modern Age. In the 16th century, Rabelais details how Panurge when getting up, gave

a fart ('un pet'), a leap ('un sault'), and a whistle ('un sublet'), and joyously cried out 'Long live Pantagruel!'

Pantagruel so addressed immediately intends to respond in like fashion, but miserably soils himself in the attempt. Panurge's salute is closely paralleled by the obligation of Roland the Farter detailed above.

[edit] 19th through 21st Centuries

A notable flatulist in Victorian times was Joseph Pujol, known by his stage name le Pétomane (pictured above), who performed in France from 1887. A contemporary flatulist, allegedly the only professional of his trade today, appears as Mr. Methane. Another famous flatulist, an amateur known as Dan the Farter, is a member of the Howard Stern "Wack Pack."

[edit] Folklore and Fiction

In the Innu mythology of Canada, Matshishkapeu (literally the "Fart Man") is the most powerful spirit, a legendary shaman capable of inflicting gastrointestinal pain or relief.

There are also fictional professional farters. A notable one would be Ross McPharter (a professional farter from Scotland) from the Derek and Clive comedy of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. McPharter explains that he became an expert because there is nothing to do in Scotland except fart and listen to Billy Connolly. Terrance and Phillip from the animated series South Park could also be classified as flatulists. Peräsmies, featured in the Pahkasika magazine, is a superhero whose only superpower is the ability to fart supernaturally hard, similar to Howard Stern's Fartman.