Barmasc

Since ancient times, statues of deities have been immersed in water in the Eastern Mediterranean. With the advent of Christianity it was the Cross itself that was immersed in it, in the evocative Orthodox ceremony of the Great Blessing of the Waters on the Epiphany. Through the coasts of Provence, which had already welcomed oriental pagan cults, the new rite penetrated Gaul. Here he encountered the Celtic tradition of propitiating rain by immersing a stick, giving rise to the ritual of immersing the Cross in the springs, also practiced in the Aosta Valley. In Barmasc, in the Ayas valley, it took place until recently in the spring that flows from the foundations of the chapel originally dedicated to Magdalene, the penitent prostitute whose cult was propagated by the Benedictines of Vézelay throughout the West. In her figure, developed between the 11th and 13th centuries by incorporating that of Mary of Egypt, the prerogatives of the pagan divinities of water and fertility shine through. The metamorphosis brought about by Christianity then transforms her into the Saint who announces the Resurrection, that is, eternal and spiritual Life. Here, therefore, both traditions connected to the sacredness of water, the immersion rite and the cult of St. Mary Magdalene, come together, while a cupellated boulder placed high up behind the Chapel suggests a prehistoric habitation of the area.