Cévennes Mountains (France); France -- Description and travel
The church comprises a nave and side aisles, and is substantially
in the Romanesque style, but with many alterations. There are three
arcades resting on piers with engaged columns in granite, with capitals
carved to represent fruit, acanthus leaves, and the seven deadly
sins. A pretty flamboyant doorway replaces the western porch, which
had been destroyed. Over it is a window in the same style. On the
right of the entrance a doorway, that seems to give access only to a
passage, communicates with a chapel below the soil, dimly lighted, and
containing an image of N. D. de tout Pouvoir, supposed to have been
given by Agelmodis, the widow of the founder of church and monastery.
It was accorded a crown in 1900 by the Pope, and the anniversary of
this ceremony, July 29th, is kept as a fête at Langogne. But the great
festival in the town is on the Sunday following June 19th, when is
the _vogue_, in honour of the two patrons, Gervasius and Protasius.
On that occasion cars are drawn through the streets bearing groups of
allegorical figures; but the special sport of the day is the "chute
d'eau." A species of gallows is erected in the main street, with a
vessel full of water balanced in the middle. The young men vie with one
another as to who by throwing a stick can upset the vessel, and then
dash under it so speedily as not to be splashed by the falling water.
He who succeeds receives a prize.
Langogne is becoming annually more and more a summer resort. The
Languiron here flows into the Allier; it does not fill its bed, which
is the receptacle for the refuse from the abattoir and the town, and
the odours arising from these dejections infect the otherwise pure
mountain air.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account