Pardon of St. Jean du Doigt
The little Church of St. Jean du Doigt offers complete and perfect example of what a village church should be. The building itself is surrounded by the churchyard, with its monumental portal, or triumphal arch, as it is always called hereabouts, its sacred fountain, its calvary, its ossuary, and its open-air oratory for the celebration of the mass for the pilgrims.
The triumphal arch is a great fifteenth-century gateway surmounted by two niches containing two ancient Gothic statues, one of St. John the Baptist, and the other of St. Roch.
With the coming of twilight, when the mists roll in from the sea, the silhouetted couples (lovers), following the ancient custom, promenade arm in arm, or rather hand in hand, each holding the other by the little finger, in deference to the finger of St. John.
When the darkness has actually fallen, the bonfires flame out on the far-away sands, the light reflected in the waves in truly eerie fashion, and so the great day of pardon and festival departs into the past.
Chant and song play a great part in all these religious festivals, not only the officiating priests, but the public singing. These religious chants seem to give rise to others less devout, of which the two following are typical.