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[Clan Sinclair]
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[Fête of St. Clair 16 July 2002]
   Fête et Fue
   de St. Clair
   2002
[Dieppe]
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Sponsor:
Q

Fête of St. Clair 16 July 2002

Fête of St. Clair 16 July 2002

Mallory, Gretchen, John, Annie, Sinclair [index to photographs] [Clan Sinclair]

From: Sinclair
Subject: Saint_Clair's Fête
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2002 08:55:08 +0200

In the evening of 16 July, together with other members of this list I once attended the fête and fue (fire) of Saint Clair. It is difficult to explain the emotions of seeing the bones of Clair and his disciple Saint Cynin carried thought the ancient streets and venals of the village of Saint Clair-sur Epte. The village is not in Normandy. A sign at the edge of the village states Ici est où Normandie a commencé. (Here is where Normandy began).

St. Clair's Abode
[beheading block]
beheading block
[holy well]
holy well
Church in St. Clair-sur-Epte
[Mass for St. Clair]
Mass for St. Clair
[relics of St. Cirin and St. Clair]
relics of St. Cirin and St. Clair
[St. Cirin]
St. Cirin
[St. Clair]
St. Clair
[torches]
torches
[departing the church]
departing the church
Procession
[procession down the street]
procession down the street
[torches on the street]
torches on the street
[priest at the holy well]
priest at the holy well
[acolyte with banner at the well]
acolyte with banner at the well
[St. Cirin again]
St. Cirin again
[torches to the block]
torches to the block
The Fire
[the crowd]
the crowd
[fire in the grove]
fire in the grove
[bones around the fire]
bones around the fire
[fire catches]
fire catches
The Crown
[the crown]
the crown
[the crown catches]
the crown catches
[the crown burns]
the crown burns
[the crown smoldering]
the crown smoldering
St. Clair's Hut
[St. Clair's hut en fete]
St. Clair's hut en fete
[St. Clair's altar]
St. Clair's altar

As the dying embers slowly faded all that was left was the memory, hidden in the caverns of the mind, of the friendship extended in the small town and the love the French peasants hold for the progenitor of our name. We are here for only the flicking of a eye, each man is allotted only so many heartbeats. Our name lives, well beyond day of our lives in the l'Île de France as thousands of men and women, for over a thousand years have called our name in soft evening air.

Sinclair


From: Annie Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2002 10:51:15 -0700

From: "John S. Quarterman"

> Now to get the spark burns out of my jacket....

Just think, you could have a great conversation piece with that jacket now. Then someone asks you how you burnt your jacket you can say " Well, I was carrying the 1000 year old bones of a saint and fire rained down on me from the skies"

It was amusing to watch you crab walk on the third go around the fire. It was a great night .

Sinclair's from America, Australia and UK had photo's placed in the local and Paris papers. The Mayor was running around telling everyone about the Sinclair's from distant lands. I recommend the fete to anyone who can make it next year. If the fete date lands on a weekend, the festivities start in the afternoon, but not until 9pm if it falls on a week day.

Annie


Last changed: $Date: 2002/08/09 14:09:30 $