Part 12 (1/2)
The triple peaks of the Mene-Hom, one of the Montagnes Noires, is a prominent feature in the view. Islands are scattered over the gulf, and the island of Tristan, retreat of Fontenelle le Ligueur, is so close to Douarnenez, that it may be reached on foot at low water.
The hotel was crammed, gentlemen sleeping on the billiard-table, or littered down in the room of the table-d'hote: the place was crowded. All the world had flocked in to a.s.sist at the Pardon of Sainte Anne-la-Palue, which was to take place the following morning. No vehicle was to be had, and we were in despair of being able to go, when a good-natured voyageur kindly offered to drive us in his carriage-a proposal we thankfully accepted. In all our wanderings we had hitherto never been so fortunate as to see a Pardon, and we were very anxious to go.
The Pardon of Sainte Anne-la-Palue takes place the last Sunday in August, continuing three days, and is one of the most frequented in Finistere.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 59. Costume of a Finistere Bride.]
At Plonevez-Porzun we turned off the Crozon road, and about two miles further arrived at the chapel. The road all the way was lined with peasants walking to the Pardon. The young men of Douarnenez wear blue jackets, embroidered in colours, with rows of plated b.u.t.tons, the sleeves and waistcoat of a darker blue than the jacket, scarlet sashes, some with plaited bragou bras and s.h.i.+ning leather gaiters; but most of them wore trowsers, their hair long, and their hats with two or three rows of coloured variegated chenille. The women had square caps, and ap.r.o.ns with bibs. Those who were in mourning wore light yellow caps, called ”bourladins,” stained that colour with beeswax or saffron.
St. Anne is a newly-built church, standing on the slope of a down which separates it from the sea, in a perfectly insulated situation. It is only opened once a year for the Pardon. Round it were erected numerous stalls, with toys, epinglettes, and rosaries (chapelets), in heaps for sale; for rosaries must always be purchased at the Pardon, to preserve the wearer from thunder and hydrophobia. The great fabric for them is at Angers, where they are made in immense quant.i.ties. In the princ.i.p.al manufactory a steam-engine is used for turning the beads; in the others the common lathe. One maker told us she sent annually into Brittany alone rosaries to the value of 800_l_. There were tents and booths erected for the accommodation of the pilgrims who had arrived the preceding day. They eat, drink, and dance in the tents by day, and sleep on the tables at night.
At ten o'clock, at the ringing of a bell, a procession was formed, consisting of a long line of peasants, preceded by priests and banners, which made the round of the church; the penitents, en chemise to the waist, barefooted, carrying wax-tapers in their hands. The penance is sometimes executed by proxy: a rich sinner may, for a small sum, get his penance performed by another. One woman made the round of the church on her knees, telling her beads as she hobbled along. This was in performance of a vow made for some special deliverance.
We proceeded to the top of the hill, from which the beautiful Bay of Douarnenez presented a most lively appearance; fleets of small boats arriving from every direction, and a huge steamer from Brest, which was obliged to land its pa.s.sengers in small boats, on account of the shallowness of the water.
The appearance of the downs now became very animated, covered with gaily-dressed peasants arranged in groups, sitting or lying on the gra.s.s, in every kind of att.i.tude.
At four o'clock the grand procession took place. First came the priests of all the surrounding districts, with the banners and crosses of their parishes; then followed five girls (three and two) in white, carrying a banner, and eight more in similar attire, bearing a statue of the Virgin.
Next appeared the banner of Sainte Anne, carried by women in the gorgeous costume of the commune-gowns of cherry-coloured silk, trimmed half the way up with gold lace, a silver lace scarf, and ap.r.o.ns of gold tissue or rich silk brocade. Under their lace caps was a cap of gold or silver tissue.
Four more of these superbly-dressed bearers (”porteuses”) carried the statue of Ste. Anne.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 60. Well of Ste. Anne-la-Palue.]
Girls carrying blue flags walked by their side. Troops of barefooted penitents and s.h.a.ggy-headed beggars closed the procession, which was followed by a countless train of the peasants. It slowly wound its way over the hill, and again descended to the church, where it mingled among the crowds of a.s.sembled spectators, which filled the churchyard and were seated on the steps of the calvary.
Not far from the church is the holy well of Ste. Anne, where devotees were engaged pouring the holy water over their hands and backs, dipping their children, and testing its miraculous efficacy by various other ablutions.
We proceeded next morning to Quimper, having had no opportunity of seeing Douarnenez itself. In the season it is a favourite watering-place, the bathing being about two miles from the town. It is a great place for the sardine fishery. From Quimper we went by rail to Rosporden, whence an omnibus runs to Concarneau. The church of Rosporden is situated on a little promontory, jutting out into a large etang fed by the river Aven, which runs through it and flows on to Pontaven.
We took a carriage at Rosporden for Le Faouet, pa.s.sing by Scaer on the Isole, a stream which rises at the foot of the Montagnes Noires, takes a curve round the town of Scaer, and joins the Laita. It is full of trout and salmon.
Scaer is a town remarkable for having preserved many old customs and superst.i.tions; among others, the bees are considered to be ent.i.tled to share in the joys and sorrows of the family. Their hives are surrounded with a red stuff on the occasion of a marriage; with a black on that of a death. This custom is still preserved in Wales. In all parts of Brittany bees are treated with special affection. As the redbreast is sacred, because she broke a thorn from the crown of our Lord that pierced His brow, so are the bees revered because, as we learn from the code of Hoel the Good, though they were sent from heaven to earth after the fall of man, the blessing of Heaven has ever followed them in their exile. This, too, is the reason the wax they produce has the privilege of lighting the altars for the divine office.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 61. Cross Stones.]
It was the day of a Pardon, and the peasants were all in gala dresses. A wrestling match unfortunately had just been finished; for throughout Cornouaille wrestling has been, from time immemorial, as favourite a game as in our county of the same name. Our driver tried without success to procure for us some of the little double crystals, intersecting each other at right angles, called ”pierre de croix”-by mineralogists grenat.i.te-found in the Coatdry, a small affluent of the Aven, washed out of the mica slaty rocks in which they abound. The peasants a.s.sign to them a miraculous origin, and wear them in little bags round the neck as charms against headache, blindness, s.h.i.+pwreck, and hydrophobia, being, as they allege, signed with the cross. According to tradition, a pagan chief, having, in his impious rage, thrown down the cross in the chapel of Coatdry, Heaven, in memorial of the outrage, placed the sacred symbol upon the stones of the river.
At Le Faouet we again entered the department of the Morbihan. This pretty little town is situated between the Sterlaer and the Elle. We first walked to see the chapel of Ste. Barbe, perched, in the most singular manner, in the cleft of a high rock, about a mile from the town.
After a steep climb we reached the plateau of the hill, where is the monument of a M. Berenger, who desired to be buried in this elevated spot, which commands a charming view of the surrounding country, the silvery waters of the Elle winding at the base of the mountain. We then descended, by a flight of handsome, broad, granite steps, with bal.u.s.trades, to the chapel, placed on so narrow a s.p.a.ce that it was impossible to give it the usual inclination to the east. The entrance-porch is to the southwest, and the high altar opposite, against the walls of the chapel, to the north-east. On the top of the steps is the belfry, consisting of a roof, supported by four columns. The day of the Pardon each pilgrim rings the bell. The chapel was built in this singular spot, according to tradition, by a knight, who was overtaken by a storm in the valley of the Elle beneath. He saw an enormous ma.s.s of detached rock on the point of falling down and crus.h.i.+ng him, when he invoked the intercession of Sainte Barbe, the guardian saint against thunder, promising to build her a chapel, if delivered from the danger. His prayer was heard; the rock was stayed in its descent and rested on the cleft, where, next day, the grateful knight began building the chapel, as a thank-offering for his escape. Above Ste.
Barbe, stationed on an insulated rock, one of the highest peaks in Brittany, is a small chapel, dedicated to St. Michael, also approached by a flight of stone steps, like Ste. Barbe, with bridge built over an archway. The rock on which it stands is so abrupt, that rings are placed along the sides of the chapel for the pilgrims, when creeping round, to hold on by. Many have perished in the attempt; none, they say, have ever succeeded in making the circuit.
There was a wedding at Le Faouet during our stay there. Guests, invited from all quarters, to the number of 250, arrived in their gala costumes, some of them magnificent: one woman wore a gown entirely of gold tissue; it was her wedding-dress. The musicians, with biniou and hautboy, went round to summon the guests. We saw the procession going to church. The bride was prettily dressed, with a high cap, beautifully ”got up,” pointed in form, and trimmed with lace, and embroidered; a muslin ap.r.o.n, also lace-trimmed, and a double muslin shawl, similarly trimmed, the lace beautifully plaited; a violet silk dress, white moire sash, and a small bunch of white flowers. The bridegroom was ”en bourgeois.” Outside the church door were tables, laid out with cakes; after the service the bride and all the party took each a cake and put money in the plates, as an offering for the poor. They next adjourned to the Place, where they danced three ”gavottes” under the trees. The ceremony of stealing away the bride then took place; that is, she was chased by some dozen of the youths of the company, and he who had the good fortune to capture her she treated to a cup of coffee at a cafe. Dinner followed, and then they returned to the interminable gavotte. They hold each other's hands ”en grand rond,” then wind themselves round the centre couple, executing most elaborate steps, and uncoil again to return to the grand rond. We counted as many as thirty couples in one gavotte. These festivities last two, or sometimes three, days, during which time all the wedding party are entertained free of expense.
Le Faouet is a great fis.h.i.+ng quarter. The Elle, which flows round the town, is a stream of considerable size; and, four miles below Le Faouet, it is joined by the Laita, and before Quimperle unites its waters with the Isole, whence its mingled streams flow into the Atlantic, under the name of the Laita. We were told that large fish were taken in a pond in the grounds of the Abbey of Langonnet, not far from Le Faouet, but it is strictly preserved.
The people of this district retain all the old Breton superst.i.tions; they believe in the Car of Death, drawn by six black horses, driven by the ”Ankou,” or Phantom of Death, with an iron whip. They also have full faith in the Washerwomen of the Night (Lavandieres de la Nuit), who wash the shrouds for the dead, and fill the air with their melodious songs:-
”Si chretien ne vient nous sauver, Jusqu'au jugement faut laver: Au clair de la lune, au bruit du vent, Sous la neige, le linceul blanc.”
”If no good soul our hands will stay, We must toil on till judgment-day: In strong wind or clear moonlight, We must wash the death-shroud white.”