At 3:00 p.m. we are in the crush of a huge crowd that is gathering outside the entry of the church. We start out with good spots for viewing the Procession, just one row back, but we are elbowed out by a big, tall Italian tourist who keeps thrusting his arm and camera in front of me until I cannot hold my weight against him. I am pushed back into the third row. A Gypsy woman in the front row signals to my traveling companion that she is leaving, and she wants to give her spot to my friend.
Gypsy Youth Participating in the Procession
We see the Guardians, the cowboys of the Camargue, lining up with their white horses as they will lead the procession through the streets and into the sea. Gypsy youths who are chosen to carry the banners and the flowers are now milling in the roped off area, waiting for the church doors to be thrust open with the dias holding the image of Saint Sara. Gypsy dignitaries and town officials are obviously going to walk as part of the Procession down to the sea. This is a celebration of the Gypsies and the Carmarguais. (natives of Camargue)
The church doors are opened, and Saint Sara is brought out. She begins her trip through the streets to the sea, with a crowd of people on both sides following her. People are shouting “Vive la Sainte Sara!” Many try to reach to Saint Sara to touch her, but most only manage to graze their hands along the many layered robes that are covering her body. We bolt through the back streets, hoping to get to the sea in time to secure a good vantage point to watch the benediction.
Sara the Kali in Procession to the Sea
We are too late–it seems that many others arrived long before us to take their places along the quai extending into the sea where the ceremony will take place. We watch anyway from the back, and follow the crowd that carries the Saint Sara with the white horses leading the way into the water. The horses ride bravely into the surf, followed by the priest and the porters of the statuary of Saint Sara; she is blessed with the sea water during a brief ceremony.
The return of the Saint Sara to the church seems rather anti-climatic after the grand buzz that preceded. People disperse and the benediction party of porters and priests return the Saint Sara back to her place in the crypt of the church.