La Main de Gloire screen - outdoor art

La Main de Gloire screen - outdoor art

 Centuries ago the French believed that the mandrake plant was magical. They believed this because the roots looked like a screaming man. Therefore they believe that it must have grown under a limb of a tree where a man was hanged. Now the word in French for mandrake was mandragore. But it sounded a lot like main de gloire. So they started saying main de gloire instead. So therefore the legend involved into a story about a hand as well as a convict. The story became this: take the right hand of a convict who has been executed. Preserve it and make it hold a candle made of wax from his boiled down own flesh. Once lit, it gives you special powers. For instance you could break into a house and steal from people and they will stay asleep. Often the English copy the French so they translated it into hand of glory. They have a pickled hand— you light the fingers like candles but if you blow one out you could be discovered. With such an amazing story I thought would it would be a great name for a bar that doesn’t actually exist.