SAINTES-MARIES-DE-LA-MER

'Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer' (lit. "Saint Marys of the Sea") is the main town of the Camargue in the south of France. It is a commune of the Bouches-du-Rhône ''département'', by the Mediterranean Sea. Population: 2,478 (50,000+ during the summer holidays). It has a land area of 374.61 km² (144.64 sq mi), the second-largest area of all communes in Metropolitan France, smaller only than that of neighboring Arles.

Contents

Religion

Miscellaneous

External links

References

Religion

The three saints Mary Magdalene, Mary Salome and Mary Jacobe, whose relics are the focus of the devotions of pilgrims are believed to be the women who were the first witnesses to the empty tomb at the resurrection of Jesus. After the Crucifixion of Jesus, Mary Salome, Mary Jacobe, and Mary Magdalene were cast adrift in a boat that arrived off the coast of what is now France "a sort of fortress named Oppidum-Râ", and the location was known as Notre-Dame-de-Ratis (''Râ'' becoming ''Ratis'', or boat) (Droit, 1961, 19); the name being changed to Notre-Dame-de-la-Mer, and then Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in 1838.
It is a pilgrimage destination for Roma (Gypsies) who gather yearly in the town for a religious festival in honor of Saint Sarah also known as Sara-la-Kali (Sara the black). Dark-skinned Saint Sara is said to have possibly been the Egyptian servant of the three Marys. The famous flamenco guitarist Manitas de Plata first played there.

Miscellaneous

★ Vincent van Gogh painted ''Dorfstrasse at Sainte-Maries'' here in 1888.

★ Hermann-Paul died here in 1940, two days shy of the capitulation.

★ Tori Amos wrote a song "Mary's of the Sea" inspired by Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer- most noteably of the three Marys, Mary Magdalene.

External links

★ Tourism office website (mirror)

References

★ Droit, Michel. (1963). ''Carmague.'' Ernest and Adair Heimann (trans.). London: George Allen and Unwin