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The statue of Sara, Patron Saint of the Gypsies, 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 Gypsies.
You must see this crypt at the time of the May Pilgrimage, swarming with the crowd of Gypsies, illuminated by a thousand candles that the heat shapes into serpents.
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Known around the world as the "Patron Saint" of the Gypsies, Sara poses for the historiographer an enigma that doesn't seem ready to be resolved. A Camargue tradition sees her as the Saints Mary Jacobe and Mary
Salome's servant in Palestine, and as their companion on the banks of the Rhône. Another tradition, attributed to the Gypsies, see her as a Gypsy who was settled on the Provençal shores and who was the first to welcome, right here, the exiled women from the Holy Land. But what is the foundation for this tradition when History doesn't mention the coming of the Gypsies to
France and 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 Gypsies, who saw themselves in her and 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 Marys", of which the manuscript is in the library of Arles (13). 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 Gypsy woman. |
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The Gypsies themselves do not ask themselves so many questions. And they follow by the thousands the amazing Procession that, on May
24, after bringing down the reliquaries, leads "their Patron" from the Church to the sea; in truth a strange troop, the people marching, a crush overflowing from the narrow streets that the Gardians 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 Gypsies who, tirelessy, sing and cry out "Live Saint Sara". Folklore if you like, but still unforgettable folklore. It is too often said of Sara that she has the air of a pagan idol. That is to forget that this crowd, in its own manner, are praying. That is to not want to understand that the people, behind her, walking to the sea, are also walking towards God. |
Photo cedits: Gilles MARTIN-RAGET - Jean-François MANUEL - SCOPE Jean-Daniel SUDRES
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