MUSKETEERS’ MASS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 July 1939, Page 11

MUSKETEERS’ MASS

OBSERVANCE AT ST TROPEZ. Saint Tropez, the much painted resort of the Riviera, holds a Musketeers’ Mass every year as part of the three days’ celebrations of a victory in 1637 when 21 Spanish warships were driven off. This celebration, which is both civil and military, begins May 16 in the afternoon by a ceremony of the presentation of the insignia of Commander —a pike—and the flag.' and by a blessing of arms. Then begins the “Grande Bravade,” in which delegations of guards, musketeers, artillerymen, engineers and sailors, as a homage to the patron saint of the city, fire off old blunderbuses. Each shot is considered the equivalent of a prayer, and if energy is a measure of piety it must be great, for as many as 18cwt to a ton of powder is blazed away during the "Bravade." The solemn Mass of the Musketeers takes place on the seventeenth, and this militarj' mass brings thousands of visitors to Saint Tropez. After the mass there is a grand procession of arms ,all round the town; and then general rejoicing and much firing until one o'clock in the morning. All the streets are brilliantly illuminated, and the air is full of the banging of blunderbuses and the smell of powder. Next day is given over to other celebrations, with a morning parade oft arms to the hermitage of Saint Anne, a chapel of pure Provence style. In the afternoon there is a Grand Festival of the Academy of Provence, with songs and dances of local folklore. A feature of the three clays of rejoicing is the special tunes, only heard on this occasion. played on fifes and drums.