Pour les Tsiganes donc, Sara est l’une des leurs qui vivait en Camargue avant l’arrivée des saintes. « L’une des nôtres, rapporte une tradition orale tsigane, qui reçut la première la Révélation fut Sara-la-Kâli. Elle était née de noble race et commandait sa tribu au bord du Rhône…

 Le débarquement des saints en Provence se situe selon les hagiographes, vers l’an 48 après J-C. La légende raconte comment Marie-Jacobé, la sœur de la Saintes Vierge, Marie-Salomé, la mère des apôtres Jacques et Jean, leur servante Sara, Lazare, Marthe, Marie-Madeleine et Maximin, chassés de Palestine sur une barque sans voile ni rame, abordèrent une plage de sable fin, perdue au milieu des Portes de l’Enfer. Ils décidèrent d’y élever un « autel en terre pétrie » pour y célébrer leurs mystères, puis ils se séparèrent : les uns partirent vers l’E. et Marseille, les autres vers les plaines rhodaniennes, à travers la Crau.

Le costume provençal traditionnel évolue selon l'âge de la femme qui le porte. Très jeune, jusqu'à 8 ou 10 ans, la fillette porte une jupe et un corsage très simple. Elle est coiffée d'un « bonnet » de coton blanc. On dit qu'elle est vêtue en costume de Mireille...

Under watch of a kind and sensible “gardian”, a “manade” is a herd of bulls or Camargue horses living in half-freedom in the wide enclosures of the Camargue. These most gracious beasts, pure and sharp figures, are the main settlers of these dry landscapes, where they graze peacefully. Something totally different, for sure, than intensive breeding with little room, and unhealthy animals fed up all year long. Manades are authentical warrants of quality, under strict conditions in order to let the herd in a mostly wild way of live. In yellow grass or in the shadows of short trees, they are the first symbols of the soul of this land, and some villages there are dedicated to the manade. As vintage amateurs, Camarguese people fell deep admiration for bulls and horses, sometimes even close to religiosity.

That way, the manade is a major symbol and a source of pride for those who get rewarded for their hard work, in raced-horse or -bull fairs, or for appreciated bulls in “courses camarguaises” (games with bulls), as the most gracious and powerful are rewarded each year and wear the mark of their manade on the back.

As a most important sacred place for Gipsies, the Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer summon every year whole processions of the so-called Travelling People, who come there to honour their Saints with penitence and recollection, but also with feasts, games and tradional music. For two centuries, Southern Gipsies for most of them (the “Kale”), or Roms -Tzigans, Bohemians- who often come from Eastern Europe pray and worship the Saint Marys from Christianity, and the patron saint of the Gipsies, Saint Sarah, also known as The Black Virgin (Sara e Kali, in Romani).

The Pilgrimage in May is the time of the Gipsies, and acts as a complete metamorphosis in the life of the little town of the Saintes-Maries, suddenly caught into the twisting lights of caravans, veils, jewelry and typical clogs. Whether all-year nomads or not, they all meet then into an exceptional gathering, in pervour, around the fortified church and in front of the eyes of the idol, and express in this wedding of folk arts and religiosity their remarkable simple joy to be.

As it fits into its environment, a “mas” (a country house) you may find in Camargue clears differs from a mas in Provence. In Provence, it is often made of rough stones that are easy to find in a irregular rocky land. In Camargue, walls are often made of mortar covered with lime. Roofs are made of sewn reeds then partially mixed with cement and lime. The most typical “mas” are inclined on the windy side, as winds in this flat land can get particularly violent, and a cross or a bullhead is attached to the front wall.

Whereas they used to be the houses of shepherds, gardians or peasants, they are nowadays highly coveted by amateurs of this placid and rough nature of Camargue, and that is why they tend to be very well maintained and evaluated by their owners, mostly in order to rent them as holiday houses or to become luxuous inns...