Brittany by Sabine Baring-Gould

The Pardons are the religious gatherings of the people, not often in the towns, but about some chapel on an island, on a hill top, in a wood. There may be seen the costumes in all their holiday beauty.

A Pardon begins with vespers on the night before the Feast. Pilgrims arrive for that, and sleep in the church, the chapel, under hedges. They sing their cantiques or hymns till they sing themselves to sleep. The first mass is said at 3 A. M. and the true pilgrims communicate till the last has received, when they depart. An ordinary visitor arriving, say at 10 A. M., will hardly see a single pilgrim. The rest come to join in the devotions. They attend mass, take part in the afternoon (3 P. M.) procession, and buy memorials, and ribbons, and sweetstuff, and pictures at the stalls.