Romanies, Manouches, Tziganes and Gypsies come from the four corners of Europe and even other continents to venerate their Saint, the Black Sara. They camp on the streets, on the squares, on the beach. During eight to ten days, they are at home. The pilgrimage is also the occasion for reunions of friends and family, and most of the children are baptized in the Church of the Saints.
According to Provençal legend, in antiquity, this region of the Camargue was an island consecrated to the Egyptian god Râ, father of the sun. The island town served as a port and lighthouse founded perhaps a thousand years before the arrival of the Greek traders. The current day village of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer was constructed on the site of the Egyptian god’s temple in the early ninth century.

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