• From 24 to 26 May, the pilgrimage of Travellers to Saites-Maries-de-la-Mer takes place.
  • It gives rise to a market made by and for the Gypsies that the town hall has tried to move outside the village.
  • The event also attracts many tourists.

They are no longer in the odor of holiness. In Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (Bouches-du-Rhône), where the Gypsy pilgrimage takes place from this Wednesday and for three days, the fire is smouldering between the Travellers and the mayor. "It's simple, the town hall tried to kick us out," says Yohan, president of the Gypsy Paca Committee. Behind his stall selling oilcloths, this fairground who lives year-round in Tarascon, cannot believe being, in 2023, "still a victim of discrimination".



At least this is his interpretation of the conflict between the Traveller community and the town hall of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer after the latter announced its willingness to move their market held during pilgrimage to the main square outside the city. After a brief but effective total blockade of the city at the beginning of May by the Travellers, the town hall has reversed its idea. "It would happen anywhere else, I could have believed in a misunderstanding, a clumsiness. But not here," he continues.

A place "given" to the Gypsies by a marquis

Not here, because this village of 2,000 inhabitants on the Camargue waterfront is considered the capital of the Gypsies. For decades, if not centuries, more than 20,000 travellers from all over Europe have gathered there every year to honour Saint Sara, servant of Mary Magdalene and Mary Salome, sister of the Virgin Mary in the Catholic tradition. Saint of travelers because it is on these shores that Sarah would have washed up after fleeing Judea by boat.

And behind this cult tradition that gives rise to a religious procession, it is a highlight of the life of the gypsy community that takes place. By wanting to change the organization of its market, it is in their identity and their history that the Gypsies felt attacked. "This place was given to us by the Marquis de Baroncelli, it is called Place des Gitans. History makes that we have the right to claim it, "says the president of the Gypsy Committee and co-organizer of this market of 120 exhibitors made by the Gypsies, for the Gypsies. There is all the equipment necessary for caravan life at a date before the travel season that begins in June. It is also an opportunity for families to meet before leaving to work on the roads, in the fields, the gardens, the works.

The Pentecostal Threat

Still, over the decades this pilgrimage has also become a real tourist attraction. And on the Place des Gitans, the town hall had imagined other animations. Fifty wooden trailers, the presentation of ancient crafts, a podium for the concert of Negrita, star singer of the community. "They want to replace us with actors!" exclaims the oilcloth seller. "That's the way we lived in the nineteenth century," scoffs Jean, an exhibitor who offers next to the linen sold by his wife, his services of scrap metal, facade repair, gardening work.

If the question of the market has crystallized tensions, the subject of the arrangement of caravans is not to be outdone. As last year, to close access to the city center to these, nearly 200 concrete blocks were placed here and there. In fact, the camps were established on the outskirts and on the stadium lawn. But with these subjects of discord, there is also a negative loss of interest in the religious dimension of the event. "All this has become trade, we are not going to hide it," says Jean-Louis, from Corrèze. He was baptized here, his son in Lourdes. "My grandparents would take a month to come here in a horse-drawn trailer," he recalls, testifying to the determination of their faith.

For Jean-Louis' subject of concern is more that of the decline of the Catholic faith among his peers than that of the market or caravans. The fault lies with the evangelists, mainly Pentecostals, a cult that is gaining ground among the Gypsies. "They charge 50 euros per caravan for access to a field where they are holding a gathering. They have cult practices," he said. At his side Aouelle, a gypsy resident of Les Saintes agrees: "The pilgrimage has nothing to do with before. People don't care about faith now," she said, dressed in a blue dress, holding an ancestral banner to the glory of Saint Sara.

Decline of religion and prevalence of the economy, finally, everything happens as if the gypsy community followed the same evolution as society in general. "Society asked us to change, and we changed. But it is by killing the market that they will kill folklore, "says Jean as he takes to task a baby gypsy dressed in a traditional dress that his mother walks in the aisles. "Look at this little one. In thirty, forty or fifty years, she will still come here, and that's how the tradition is transmitted, "adds the one who lives in roaming all year round for "never having learned to do otherwise".

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