Sara-la-Kali 2022

According to legend, the two witnesses of Jesus' crucifixion, the mothers of the apostles James and John, Maria Kleophae and Maria Salome were abandoned by enemies on a boat and washed up on the coast of the southern French Camargue around the year 40. Also on board was their dark-skinned servant Sara, who, according to legend, secured the survival of the shipwrecked by begging. She became the patroness of the Travelers (Roma, Sinti, Manouche, Gitans, Jenische). Her relics are kept in the fortified church of Les-Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and every year on May 24th Travelers from all over the world meet to honor Black Sara or Sara-la-Kali. Her statue is carried in a procession to the beach and into the sea, accompanied by the "Camargue cowboys", the Guardians on their white horses. The figure is hugged, kissed and wetted with sea water. Tough guys go soft. Children are baptized, marriages decided and the streets are full of music. The ritual reminds us of similar rituals in India in which the goddess Durga or Kali is carried into water. And indeed: some suspect that the Sinti and Roma who immigrated in the Middle Ages from India named Sara their patroness because she resembled their goddess. We were touched by the living spirituality and the great joy. The photos where taken on two days in May 2022 in Stes Maries de la Mer, Camargue.