The Black Virgin Of Sarrance

Leaving Oloron I passed these 2 donkeys in a cramped, squalid compound. They did not look very happy ...

I was now walking due south along the valley of the river Aspe. I would follow this river for 60 km - almost as far as the Col du Somport and the Spanish frontier. Little by little the valley narrowed and the hills closed in. Despite the approaching mountains - and the notoriously unpredictable Pyrenean weather - the rain still held off. In fact it was another warm and sunny day. The path flirted with the stream -sometimes following the left bank, sometimes the right, sometimes contouring high above the river, sometimes staying on the same level ...

After 20 km I'd reached Sarrance where I hoped to spend the night. A shepherd and a fisherman had miraculously discovered a Black Virgin here (I've written about the cult of the Black Virgin before). You can find her in a side chapel in the Sanctuary of Notre-Dame:

I knew there was a pilgrim gîte adjoining the sanctuary, and eventually located it beyond a door leading off the neglected and overgrown cloisters. No one seemed to be about so I entered and made myself at home. I'd just turned on the shower when there was an urgent banging at the cubicle door. It was one of the church fathers - and he didn't sound very pleased. Apparently the gîte was closed for the season! Later however he chilled out and let us stay - even bringing us some oil and salt and various things missing from the kitchen store cupboard. I say "us" because by this time Steven, a pilgrim from South Africa, had arrived:

Steven made a really tasty soup for our evening meal - out of carrot, potato, caramalised onion, lentils, garlic, yoghurt and a stock cube - then we turned in early. The gîte was very dark and gloomy - and rather sinister. We told each other jokes and anecdotes to keep any lurking evil spirits at bay ...

This picture of Sarrance shows the village fountain (we filled our water bottles from it the next morning - the water was ice-cold and deliciously pure) and the lavoir (on the left). You find these old lavoirs in many French villages. It's where the women of the village used to do their laundry - and doubtless catch up on all the gossip too!

Toulouse: Rose-Red City

The Canal du Midi cuts almost through the heart of Toulouse, the finest and liveliest city in south-west France. There can be no better approach to any city. (The Grand Union Canal does a similar thing in Birmingham - but somehow it's not quite the same!) Beforehand, when imagining Toulouse, I'd vaguely thought: Aerospace. Airbus. Shiny new industrial parks. And that was about it. Nothing had prepared me for bright sun on rose-red brick and cloistered convents ...

... and monasteries now art museums ...

... the 16th century Pont-Neuf spanning the broad Garonne river ...

... tiny parks and squares with their fountains and sculptures ...

... and bijou little shops and cafés in the narrow streets and alleyways ...

... the gargoyles ...

... the bustling Place du Capitole ...



... and the medieval wonder that is the Basilica of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse's crowning glory ...



... where a wedding had just taken place ...

There was also the Hôtel Dieu Saint-Jacques (a former pilgrim hostel and hospice) with its huge garden sculpture of a scallop shell, and the Church of Notre-Dame de la Daurade with its much-venerated Black Virgin, and the Cathedral of Saint-Etienne with its 13th century rose window and unique asymmetrical design ...

For the 1st time on the trip I stayed 2 nights - the 2nd one in an Ibis hotel. Bliss!

Tight Connection

A long time ago I stopped off at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in the mysterious, flat Camargue region of the French Mediterranean. A land of wild horses and flamingos and ancient beliefs. In fact it must have been around the time Bob Dylan visited the place in May 1975, when he attended the annual gypsy gathering there. On 24 and 25 May each year Saintes-Maries becomes the focus for a Romany pilgrimage. Gypsies gather to pay homage to 2 Marys whose wooden statues are brought out for the occasion, the statues of Marie-Salomé and Marie-Jacobé, who are said to have fled the Holy Land (supposedly also with Lazarus and Mary Magdalene) by boat after Christ's Resurrection. But there is also a 3rd statue, the one most idolized, of the enigmatic black saint Sara-la-Kali. Pagan goddess? Dark Egyptian woman? Servant of Christ's mother Mary? Mary Magdalene? Who knows. But every year on 24 May the gypsies meet to venerate their patron saint and return her effigy to the sea in an ecstatic and symbolic ritual. For 24 May is St Sara's festival day. And also Bob Dylan's birthday, of course... And Sara the name of his greatest love...

Black Madonna

The motorcycle black madonna/Two-wheeled gypsy queen... BOB DYLAN Gates of Eden from Bringing It All Back Home

I married Isis on the fifth day of May/But I could not hold on to her very long... BOB DYLAN Isis from Desire

I mentioned yesterday the Black Madonna of Le Puy. A few words about the cult of the Black Madonna or the Black Virgin. Some statues and paintings depict the Virgin Mary with dark or black skin and are found throughout Europe, Africa and the Americas. Within the Catholic parts of Europe 400 - 500 of these representations exist, usually in the form of wooden (occasionally stone) statues or picture icons (often Byzantine in style). A large number of these, close on 200, are to be found in France, particularly southern France.

For many years scholars have argued about the significance of the black skin on the European Black Madonnas. In some cases the wood has simply darkened over time or become blackened with smoke or candle soot. But in most cases the field lies wide open for supposition and interpretation. There is no doubt that Black Virgins are venerated in a special way and have passionate devotees. They are associated with healing, fertility, miracles. Some believe they are a Christian form of the Egyptian goddess Isis; others have discovered links with the Templars, the Cathars and even Mary Magdalene. There is a very seductive theory that a Black Virgin represents a kind of divine feminine principle, a pagan earth goddess wedded to the black earth, a powerful female sexuality which the medieval Church authorities tried to suppress.

2 books I can recommend on this fascinating subject are Ean Begg's The Cult Of The Black Virgin (1985) and Lynn Picknett's Mary Magdalene: Christianity's Hidden Goddess (2003).