"Their Very Own Saint"

My new novel-in-progress begins at the end of May, where a family who trace their roots back to Romani caravans disagree about how best to honour the little lady the Roma count as "Their Very Own Saint" - Sainte Sara-la-Kali, protege of Les Saintes Maries de la Mer - a pair of matriarchs who give their names to a town in the south of France, where Roma and their related Traveller tribes gather in pilgrimage by the sea every year.

My story opens with Catherine, a down-on-her-luck dancer, watching her family and friends, from whom she has grown distant, unable to make the pilgrimage in person, so decorating their street to celebrate their old Traveller roots in their own way, as Catherine watches them from her window.

All I wanted then, at first, to set that scene, was to know what the effigies of Sara-la-Kali and Les Maries looked like, and what dates they were each venerated - I already have my images of the place itself, from the whole series of paintings made of the landscape, townscape and seascape by Vincent van Gogh (more about him in future blogs). But what I found fascinated me, so, in a shameless attempt to drum up early interest in my novel, I'll be collecting various bits of my research, starting with this one, in blog form.

The Church of Les Saintes Maries de la Mer experiences, twice a year, hours of intense fervor that accompany these Pilgrimages. Romani, and their relatives - Manouches, Tziganes and Gitans (please refrain whenever you can from the word that rhymes with "Dipsy" - it's a racial slur) come from Europe and other continents to venerate their Saint, "the Black Sara". They camp on the streets, on the squares, on the beach. For a week, they're at home. The pilgrimage is the occasion for reunions of friends and family, and most of the children are baptized in the Church of the Saints.

These festivals go back to the Middle Ages and their ceremonies are still the same; the crowd, candles in hand, sing and praise the Saint Marys.

May 24th: Sara's Procession to the sea

A procession takes Sara, Patron saint of Travellers, to the sea. Just before, inside the Church, her relics have been slowly brought down from the "High Chapel" by means of a winch, in the midst of the songs and praises. The statue of Sara, carried by the pilgrims to the sea, symbolizes the waiting for and welcome of the Saints Mary Jacobe and Mary Salome.

The procession, in honour of Sara and the Romani, is a recent institution. In 1935, the Marquis de Baroncelli and a few Camargue Gardians, anxious to give the Romani in the Pilgrimage a place they didn't have (there were just a few hundred of them, lost in the crowd of pilgrims from Provence and the Languedoc), suceeded in organizing this march to the sea in memory of the arrival of "their Saint".

May 25th: Procession of Saints Mary Jacobe & Mary Salome

Following the morning's solemn mass, the "craft", with the statues of the Two Maries aboard, is borne to the sea, accompanied by the crowd of pilgrims, carried by the ranchers on horseback and the Arlésienne girls in costume. The bearers go into the sea to symbolize the arrival of the Saints Mary Jacobe and Mary Salome and of the Faith. The Bishop, aboard one of the traditional fishing boats, blesses the sea, the region, the pilgrims. The Procession returns to the Church amidst acclamations accompanied by music and the bells. In the afternoon at the Church, with prayers and a popular fervor, the ceremony of bringing the reliquaries back up to the "High Chapel" takes place.

"Eternal pilgrims on the world's roads"

That's how, in 1965, Pope Paul VI welcomed those who'd come from Europe and amongst whom he wanted to celebrate his 68th birthday.

No term could suit them better. Already at the dawn of the 15th century, when their ancestors arrived in France, they presented themselves as penitents, condemned to wander the world in atonement for their sins. To back up their words, they showed letters from Pope Martin V. Throughout the Middle Ages, they remained faithful to the other famous pilgrimage, of Camino de Santiago.

Today more than ever, the pilgrimage, so well suited to innate nomadism, remains on of the Romani's essential religious act. The hostile welcome that sometimes greets them in other churches, where they feel like strangers, impels them even more to get together with other Travellers, to pray in their own manner and fulfill their vows. Are they in distress? Is a loved one sick? The Roma makes a wish to a saint. If it's for the Pilgrimage to Saintes Maries de la Mer, they commit themselves to accomplishing it in the harsh conditions of penitence.

Some evenings, the crowd arrives preceded by violins and guitars. They light candles which everyone holds raised towards the nave. They pray loudly, they shout out invocations, they hold their children up in front of the statues... Many also take advantage of this family gathering to have their children baptized in the church of Saintes Maries de la Mer.

Even if the time is over when they, coming by train and sometimes on foot, spent the night in Sara's crypt, it is still for their “Patron Saint” that they come to the ancient Camargue shrine. There's a place too for Mary-Jacobe and Mary-Salome. The pilgrims praise them as the reliquary caskets are brought down and lift their children up to let them touch and kiss the statues. But it's Sara who's "their very own saint”. Everyone adds a candle to the blazing white forest that diffuses a stifling heat in the crypt. They tuck into the "box of intentions" children's linen, pieces of jewellery, messages. And then Sara is dressed anew. Forty, fifty coats are piled on the frail statue that grows bigger every day.

The statue of Sara, Patron Saint of Travellers, can be found in the Church of Saintes Maries de la Mer, at the back of the crypt to the right, wearing multicoloured dresses and jewelry. The center altar bears a reliquary, and against the wall is the Processional cross, carried by the Romani pilgrims.

Known around the world as the "Patron Saint" of all Travellers, but especially those whose race is known by that name, Sara poses an enigma that doesn't seem ready to be resolved. A Camargue tradition sees her as the Saintes Mary Jacobe and Mary Salome's servant in Palestine, and as their companion on the banks of the Rhône. Another tradition, attributed to the Roma, see her as a fellow traveller who was settled on the Provençal shores and who was the first to welcome, right there, the exiled women from the Holy Land. But what's the foundation for this tradition when History doesn't mention the coming of the Roma to France or Provence until the 15th century?

If other versions have also been put forward, in truth, no one knows who Sara was, nor how worship of her established itself in Saintes Maries de la Mer, to where people came to pray well before the French Revolution. For the Roma, who adopted her as their appointed protector, she is "Sara-la-Kâli", a Tzigane word which means both "Gitan" and "black".

The first mention of Sara can be found in a text by Vincent Philippon written around 1521: "The Legend of the Saint Maries", of which the manuscript is in the library of Arles. Here we see her collecting money across the Camargue to provide for the small Christian community. This practice of "soliciting" might have, think some authors, later made her likened to a Romani woman.

The Roma themselves do not ask themselves so many questions. And they follow by the thousands the Procession that, on May 24th, after bringing down the reliquaries, leads "their Patron" from the Church to the sea; a crush overflowing from the narrow streets that the Guardians on horseback have a hard time channeling, a swell of heads and faces over which rocks the frail statue carried along by the men. The Arlésiennes also give her an honouring escort, but it is still the Roma who sing and cry out, "Vive Sainte Sara". It's too often said of Sara that she has the air of a pagan idol. That's to forget that this crowd, in its own manner, are praying. That the people, behind her, walking to the sea, are also walking towards God.

Did these two Saints really find themselves on the Mediterranean shores? If so, how?

The Breviary of the Aix en Provence Diocese says: "Chased by the persecution of Palestine, many of Christ's disciples were exiled and brought the Christian faith to our region."

With Mary-Magdalene, Lazarus and others, Mary Jacobe and Mary Salome were, we're told, arrested and set off on a boat, then, near the coast, abandoned on a raft with neither sails nor paddles. Guided by Providence, the story goes, they reached the Provençal shore. While the other disciples went off evangelizing far away, the Saints Mary Jacobe and Mary Salome, elderly women as they were mothers of Apostles, remained on this shore which henceforth bore their name.

In the evening of May 25th, the festival ends. Already the caravans move off into the distance. But by what routes? In the whole world they do no have a single square foot they can call their own.

Who hasn't heard someone say "Why don't they go back where they came from?". The answer is easy: "where they came from" is there - 95% of these pilgrims are French citizens.

Here also, for many a year, came folk rockers The Gipsy Kings (yes, I know what I said, but I can't help what name they chose to give themselves!), who - perhaps here or elsewhere - composed, among other things, the soundtrack for Zorro: the Musical. It is an aging actor, passing the baton to a younger actor, to take the lead role of this underrated gem of a play, who begins the story of my upcoming novel, Playing Zorro. He consoles himself with the old memories stirred up by his collection of copies of the paintings Vincent van Gogh made of this unique little town - and they will play a surprising role in this story of self discovery. As I inevitably become equally fascinated by other parts of my research as my writing of the novel goes along, more blogs like this one will appear, to fascinate you as they fascinate me, and shamelessly point you towards buying my book when I get the forking thing finished!

In the meantime, let us pray...

"Saint Sara, set us on the right path, give us your beautiful luck and give us health. And if someone thinks bad of us, change his heart so that he thinks good of us. Amen."