Years ago .... ( when I had the feeling my Coopers may be Romany ) .... My friend and I had this dream of going to Les Saintes Maries-de-la-Mer meaning “the Saint Marys of the Sea ” ........ I thought it would be the coolest place to go ...... has anybody ever been ?
This is renowned as the landing spot of Marie Madeleine after her voyage/flight from the Holy Land. It is understood that the reason for her departure was fear of persecution at the hands of the Romans, but to that the speculation may be added that it was also to protect the life of her unborn child. Given this lore, Saintes Maries has taken on special significance, becoming a focal point for the veneration of the Magdalene.
Festival of the “Gypsies”
Every May 24/25th about 15,000 people converge on this small seaside town to honor Saint Sara. She is small, standing less than five feet tall; but she is just the right size to fit in the corner of the arched and low-ceilinged crypt of the town’s basilica, a crypt situated on a former temple to Artemis (or possibly Isis, as these two goddesses were strongly identified with one another in Hellenistic times). Her statue is dark, as her name meaning, “The Black One” attests. During her festival, those who seek her healing and blessings come to touch her skirts, put scarves around her neck, offer flowers, light candles, and give thanks for miracles and prayers answered in the preceding years. She is paid homage to in the Gypsy Prayer, a copy of which sits framed to the right of her feet. Through her, the Magdalene, a pagan goddess, and Black Madonna are tied together. Even the crown that sits upon her head holds a symbolic key to revealing the union within her of pre-patriarchal tradition and contemporary Mariology. In it rests thirteen pearls, the number itself recalling the lunar round, and the pearl both Aphrodite’s and Mary’s sacred gem.
Further, Sara’s veneration by the Roma (who have origins in India), and indeed the very name they call her, Sara-la-Kali, make the connection to the Eastern goddess Kali much more explicit. Even her ritual bathing in the ocean at the culmination of festivities make her worship akin to that of the goddesses of the Hindu East who are taken to be immersed in the Ganges River (or other waters in proximity to the temple) after puja (worship) rites are performed during the major holy days.
This is the time when the Queen of the Gypsies is elected.
Annie
