Saintes Maries de la Mer

A small village in the Camargue, France, on the shores of the Mediterranean, where every year, about the 24th and 25th of May, gypsies congregate to celebrate the feast day of their patron saint Sara. Sara, seemingly a survival of the Indian deity Kali, has been tied to Christian folklore in a story of the three Marys of the Christian New Testament traveling to France. Upon their arrival they were met and assisted by Sara. Like Kali, Sara is pictured with black skin. The Gypsies gather to keep a vigil before the statue that has been set up in the basement of the church.

Sources:

Clébert, Jean-Paul. The Gypsies. Hammondsworth, UK: Penguin Books, 1967.