Brittany in France is a land of many beliefs, cults and traditions. Successively the territory of the Celts, Gauls, Romans, Bretons and finally Francs, the peninsula boasts a particularly important cultural heritage. With thousands of places of worship and religious relics scattered across the region, Christian Catholicism is the de facto religion in Brittany. The Celtic peninsula offers a very pious face to visitors, a construct built upon hundreds of years of pagan beliefs. One of the most prominent illustrations of this fact can be seen during the ceremonies of the Pardons (French for Forgiveness).

Every year local Catholic saints are celebrated across the region in an eclectic mix of superstition, religion and rites of pagan origin. For hundreds of years on the same Sunday, relics of saints are paraded around towns, in a procession which goes on sometimes for most of the day. Every Pardon is unique but the general aim is to ask forgiveness and redemption for committed sins from a particular saint. Every saint is a patron for a specific profession (lawyers, sailors), an activity (travellers/pilgrims or more recently motorcycle riders) and even for some animals.

The project “Days of Mercy” attempts to decode the practice of ancient religious rituals deeply buried in the heart of Brittany and equally in Bretons’ psyche. It also tries to answer questions about the role and place of this ongoing traditions in today’s Breton’s culture as well as documenting and revealing the various forms that the Pardons can take. With a church congregation losing its appeal it is feared the next generations might not be able to perpetuate these century old practices.