GYPSY PILGRIMAGE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 July 1939, Page 3

GYPSY PILGRIMAGE

» - WHEN MARY & SARAH LANDED FROM THE WAVES. Gypsies make their way from all parts of Europe on an annual pilgrimage to Saintes Maries de la Mer, on the Mediterranean coast of France to worship before the shrine of Sarah, their patron saint. The Holy Women, after the Crucifixion, landed with St. Lazarus on the coast of France , Mary Magdelene going to end her days in a grotto near Marseilles, of which the walls, according to legend, still weep her tears of repentence. Sarah also died in this region, and her relics are kept at the church of Saintes Maries de la Mer. On May 24 every year the church is packed with olive-skinned gypsies wearing all the strange costumes of Europe. As soon as the “Salute to Saints” is ended, the “Magnificat is sung, and a window on the outside of the upper chapel is opened and the reliquary containing the remains is let down by a rope around which flowers are entwined. A rush is made to be among the first to touch the holy relics, and many of the gypsies kiss the casket. A procession follows, with the mounted cattle rangers of the Camargue forming a guard of honour. The clergy get into a boat with the precious relics, and after blessing the sea, they bring the reliquary back to shore, a symbol of the first landing of the Holy Women. The walls of the church are covered with ex-voto offerings. The brotherhood that looks after the edifice dates from 1315, and today numbers twelve hundred members scattered throughout the world.