The Pèlerinage Gitan, a homecoming for a people defined by their statelessness, culminates with gardians on horseback wading into the sea.
The Pèlerinage Gitan , a homecoming for a people defined by their statelessness, culminates with gardians on horseback wading into the sea. Vive Saintes-Maries!” comes the rousing cry from a man in a fedora and green silk shirt, his neck strung with silver pendants depicting hedgehogs, caravans and saints. Sainte Sara!” comes the bellowed reply from the crowd that’s gathered alongside me in the sun-beaten square in the French coastal town of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.
Call and response, music and rhythm are everywhere here at the Pèlerinage Gitan, a riotous pilgrimage that draws Romani communities from across Europe each May. I round a corner into another square to find flamenco guitarists and singers entwined in a gleeful duel. Each musical phrase is marked with handclaps and cries of “Saintes-Maries is at the heart of the Camargue, the delta of the Rhône — a strange land of swampy marshes wedged between Montpellier and Marseille along France’s southern coast. For the most part, it remains blissfully undevelope
Pèlerinage Gitan Romani Pilgrimage France Saintes-Maries-De-La-Mer