Each 'Enclos Paroissial' contains a church, a calvary and an ossuary as well as a small amount of land within its walls. First we visited Saint Thegonnec. This dates from the 16th and 17th century, and it has a fantastic ceremonial entrance arch. On the ossuary is inscribed 'Hodie Mihi, Cras Tibi' which means 'Today Me, Tomorrow You'.
After this we visited St Guimiliau, again dating from the 16th and 17th centuries. This was amazing and I especially liked the calvary and the church organ.
There is so much to learn from the Parish Closes. The centrality of the faith to the sixteenth and seventeenth century Bretons; their perspectives, priorities and their witness - in the context of their everyday lives.
After looking at these we had a change of scene and went up to the Chapel of Mont Saint-Michel de Brasparts - named after the archangel Michael.
There are a lot of legends about Michael and the devil involving fighting and competitions. In ancient times the marshy hollow (Elez Teun) was thought to be one of the gates of hell. In Christian folklore Youdic (Elez Yeun) was thought to be a place to confine the possessed, but Saint Michael had the power to save souls from falling into it. One of the things that I find so interesting about this part of Finistere is that it is an area where ancient myths and legends and Christian stories - with examples of powerful faith - survive side by side.
And I saw an eagle in flight here today. It's the first time for me and it was truly awesome.
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