SEASON OF “PARDONS”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 June 1939, Page 4

SEASON OF “PARDONS”

PICTURESQUE FRENCH CUSTOM. With the advent of spring, the season of “Pardons” begins in Brittany, and on Easter Monday scores of these picturesque Breton festivals, mingling religious devotion with innocent revels, are held throughout the province. Every villiage has its pardon, while more than fifty “grands pardons” are scattered through the twelve months of the year. A pardon, is a distinctly Breton ceremony which permits the believer to approach the sacrements and so obtain forgiveness for his sins—hence the name. Usually the worshippers gather round the shrine of some saint, of local or international fame, or assemble to observe some religious anniversary.

At every pardon there is a procession, headed by the clergy in their gorgeous vestments, accompanied by choir boys bearing crucifixes, followed by members of the congregation carrying candles and silken banners of white and yellow or blue and 'white, generally with a centre-piece representing the saint honoured. Often in the procession a statue of the Virgin is carried, as at St. Brieuc, where the procession takes place at night through the town, everyone carrying lighted candles, and a hidden light in the arms of the Infant Christ shines up on to the lovely face of the Virgin. Also carried in the procession are a number of models of ships, borne on the shoulders of sailors, and the march of the bearers imparts to them a movement resembling that of a ship on the sea. People arrive from all over Brittany for this pardon, and some are obliged to pass the night sleeping in the church because of lack of accommodation. ■

The pardon of Treguier, on May 19, deserves special mention. This pardon pays tribute to Saint Yves, the lawyer saint. He was canonised by Rome, whereas a large number of Breton saints though honoured locally have never received official recognition. On Whit Sunday, fashionable Dinard will stage a pardon of the Blue Thistles. and on Whit Monday a pardon will be held beneath the walls of Josselin, one of Brittany’s most magnificent castles. ~