Romanies, Manouches, Travellers, Tziganes and Gitans fill the streets
with music and colour, culminating in the procession to the sea on foot
and horseback to celebrate the arrival by sea of three very important
saints who are deeply embedded in the life of Saint Sara - they are Mary
Magdalene, Mary Salome and Mary of Clopas.
The bearers go into the sea to symbolize the arrival of the Marys. Some
stories tell of Sara seeing the Marys arrive by boat. The sea was rough,
and the boat threatened to founder. Mary Salome threw her cloak on the
waves and, using it as a raft, Sarah floated towards the Saints and
helped them reach land by praying. Other stories tell of Sara being a
collector of alms who worked for the Three Marys.
After blessings and to the accompaniment of music and the set of bells,
the Procession returns to the church. Later that day, there is a
ceremony of bringing the reliquaries back up to the 'High Chapel'.
Violins, guitars, dance and singsong light up the evenings at Saintes
Maries de la Mer. A multitude of small candles are lit during the
festival and children held up in front of the statues as prayers are
recited.
The music, colour, artistry and reverence contained within the
celebrations reflect the spirit of the nomadic peoples, eternal pilgrims
on the world's roads (many are fervent travellers of El Camino de
Santiago). Indeed, within the world of art and literature, the Gypsy has
for centuries represented the artist's nomadic soul, their connection
with the spirit world and their resistance to imposed boundaries and
materialism.
This free spiritedness undoubtedly attracted the attention of writers
and artists such as Hemingway and Picasso who were visitors to Saintes
Maries de la Mer. The painter Augustus John fell in love with Provence,
which he claimed "had been for years the goal of my dreams" as he did
with the Gypsy and Romany culture. John relinquished much of his worldly
pleasures to pursue a nomadic lifestyle and learn the Romany language.
Taking the sturdy Camargue ponies through the wetlands of Provence and
along the streets of Saintes Maries de la Mer, hatless (unrecommended,
though understandably in keeping with an ancient tradition), there was
the feeling of physical and spiritual freedom - the boundariless domain
of the nomad and the artist.
© 2017
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| Encampment at Dartmouth by Augustus John |
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http://www.saintesmaries.com/eng/
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