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Paris Celebrations

Immersion, for more than four years, in the very numerous communities in Paris that are coming from countries and cultures all around the world.

The Deutsch de la Meurthe Foundation. Erected by Lucien Bechmann in a style evoking that of english colleges and inaugurated in 1925, these were the first buildings in the Cité Internationale Universitaire.

St. Sergius of Radonezh, a Russian Orthodox Church consecrated in 1925. Professing German Lutheran faith when erected, the church was confiscated during World War I. Bought back in 1924 by the Russian community flocking to Paris in the aftermath of the 1917 Revolution.

Lubavitches celebrating Hanukkah, a festival commemorating the first Hasmoneans’ victory over the Seleucid Syrian legions. Founded in mid-18th century, the Lubavitch movement was called after Lyubavichi –meaning « the city of brotherly love » in Russian -, a small city now located in Belarus.

Praying coptic sacristans during christmas mass. The word « copt » comes from the greek term aigyptos meaning « egyptian », thus referring to christian egyptians. In Michael Archangel and St. Georges Church in Villejuif, masses are celebrated in french, in coptic and in arabic.

Archbishop Gabriel, the patriarch of russian orthodox parishes in France, celebrates Easter Monday in St. Sergius of Radonezh Orthodox Church.
On his left, an african priest representing the ethiopian orthodox church.

The service of Tenebrae celebrated each year in Saint Joan Baptist, Armenian Apostolic Church, for Easter. Twelve church candles –the apostles- are set around a single candle symbolizing Jesus Christ. Eleven of them are white and one, symbolizing Judas, is black and remains unlit. On Maundy Thursday, during the Holy Passion service, the candles are extinguished one after another, thus plunging the church into total darkness.

Palm Sunday in St. Euthymius of Tarmovo, a Bulgarian Orthodox Parish.

H. E. Metropolitan Emmanuel circumbulating in St. Stephen Greek Orthodox Cathedral during Orthodox Easter.

Procession around St. Alexander Nevski russian orthodox cathedral, erected in 1861.

Celebration of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, on March 21st, every year on the banks along the Canal Saint Martin,. Nowruz, meaning « the new day », comes from Ancient Persia’s Zoroastran tradition and has been celebrated for about 3000 years by peoples influenced by Persia, amongst which Turks, Kurds, Afghans, as well as ex-Soviet republics from Central Asia.

Zoroastran worshippers praying on Nowruz, the Iranian New Year Day. Founded in the 12th century BC by a prophet named Zarathustra, this official religion of Persia for about 18 centuries, is remarkable regarding its sober aesthetics and philosophy : Man is totally free to choose his path in life. Symbol of divine radiance, a fire is permanently kept up in every temple. The oldest fire has been kept for over 15 centuries.

Candomblé ritual. This Afro-Brazilian religion is a syncretism between catholicism and the animistic traditions of Yoruba people that were brought from West Africa during slave trade.

Descending from Black Sub-Saharan Africa slaves kept in Mahgreb, the Gnawas are brotherhoods practising rituals of adorcism - i.e accepted and cultivated possession- with African and Arab-Berber influences. During these rites - called here in Morocco Lilas - the followers come into a trans with a curative and therapeutical view.
Music and Gnawa rituals -coming from Yoruba, Angolan or Fon peoples- had to adapt and adopt Islam so as to survive. This also went for Haitian Voodoo, Brazilian Candomblé and Cuban Santeria, which mixed up with Christianism. Gnawas rituals are therefore sometimes given the name of Berber Voodoo.

Originally from the old West African Kingdom of Dahomey, Haitian voodoo is the syncretism between Animistic Yoruba traditions and the worship of Christian Saints. Imported along with slave trade and secretly observed in the past, voodoo is the spirit of Haitian people. In France, people observe at home, with their families, as shown here, with this yearly ceremony to bless and purify the family.

The Lion Dance during the Chinese New Year Festival brings luck, happiness and prosperity. Combined with the cracking of bangers, it helps chase away evil spirits.

Vietnamese Buddhist nuns during a procession in the Pagoda in Vincennes.

Inter-Buddhist ceremony held in the Great Pagoda in Vincennes, as a homage to Japan, cut to the quick by the earthquake and the tsunami in 2011. Head office of the French Buddhist Union, the pagoda is actually the former Cameroon pavilion built for the Paris Colonial Exhibition of 1931. The building now houses a statue of Buddha Shakyamuni, Siddharta Gautama, the historical Buddha, as well as some relics. The 10-meters high statue, base included, is the largest statue of Buddha covered with gold leaf in Europe.

Cambodian buddhist procession celebrating the birthday of Buddha in the pagoda in Vincennes where some relics are sheltered.

Tea ceremony performer in Albert Kahn’s Gardens before the ceremony in the Japanese village, which was set in 1901 and consists in 2 villas and a tea house. Built in Japan then set together again in Albert Kahn’s premises, these buildings are considered genuine.

Awa Odori dancer -Odori dance- before a public performance during the first popular Japanese festival in Paris. The traditional outfits and the Awa dance originating from the city of Tokushima in Japan date back to the 1580s.

Bolivian people in Machetero, the outfit of the amazonian indians in Jesuit reductions. The headdresses are meant to scare off predators.

Ceremony for the Inti Raymi, the originally Inca « Festival of the Sun », celebrating the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere. Offerings are made to Father-Sun (Inti)- and Mother-Earth (Pachamana) for the well-being of all the peoples and living beings. The rainbow flag stems from that of the peoples of Inca origin.

Dancers performing a Morenada, a Bolivian dance relating the sufferings the black slaves endured while working in the mines and on the haciendas during Spanish colonisation.

Brazilian singer Carlinhos Brown proceeds to the washing of the steps of La Madeleine Church.

Women from West Cameroon gathering. They dance following the music a griot plays on her djembe.

His Majesty Roger Nkamajou, King of Bahouoc –West Cameroon chiefdom- dancing in a party thrown in his honour by his diaspora.

A Sinti and Roma dance company from Slovakia rehearsing during the first year of the Centre Artistique Tzigane created by Alexandre Romanès. Originally from India, the Roma migrated to Europe in the 13th century and are in three main groups : the Sinti Roma are settled in Eastern Europe, the Manouche in Central and Western Europe, the Gypsies in the Iberian peninsula.

In the evening, in summer, on the banks along the river Seine, dance-addicts gather for a milonga, a ball dedicated to tango. Parisian craze for tango has been growing very fast for ten years. The capital city offers two or three meeting places for aficionados every night.

Dancers in trance during the parade for the Ganesh festival. The Kavadi dancers, with their heavy wooden arched structures decorated with peacock feathers are doing penance.

Smashing of coconuts during Ganesh festival. The shell of the coconut symbolizes the illusion of the world, its flesh stands for individual karma and the water that breaks out and falls down on the pavement for human ego. Smashing the coconut, the believer breaks free from his ego and shatters down to pieces the illusion of the world, thus offering his heart to Ganesh.

A Tamil family on a public bench during Ganesh procession. French Hindhuist community is mostly from Sri Lanka.

Shop decorated for Ganesh Festival. Ganesh is here represented as accompanied with Parvati, his mother.

The Southern Star , a Moroccan grocery, created in 1963.

Camara Production is one of the major Western African audio-visual companies. The artists are mainly from Mali, Senegal and Mauritania.

Mr. Mar Seck, a Senegalese importer, has been selling masks and African craft products for over 25 years in Darou Salam, his shop on Rue Labat. In African cultures, mask sculpture is a major craft in fine arts. However, sculpted masks are not designed to be contemplated as art but to be used for social or religious ritual ceremonies.

Hinduist Newly-weds from Sri Lanka sitting on the throne built for that purpose. In the foreground, the priest is busy with the many ingredients – rice, seeds, coconut, water, fruit, flowers, nuts, etc- that are part of a ritual rich with symbolical, philosophical and spiritual signs.

Women from Senegal, Mali and Guinea-Conakry, all historically connected to the Mandinka Empire. West African weddings usually last for a couple of days. The traditional women’s feast here marks the end of the wedding.

Mauritanian wedding in the forecourt of the town-hall of the 19th arrondissement.

A young Senegalese bride during the greeting of the guests. Like this young woman, about 90% of the Senegalese are Muslim.

Women having a conversation in one of the galleries that are all around the garden of the Great Mosque. This building is for women only during Friday prayer service.

On the eve of a wedding, marabout Omar Djabi comes to preach and remind the bride’s family – from Casamance, Senegal- of the ways to behave, to be tolerant and fair. On the right, in blue, Lamine Kouyaté - a member of an old griot descent dating back to the 13th century-, repeats his words after him for the assembly but also testifies and refers to the family history. Marabouts are wise men that are learned in Islam. Sometimes considered as venerable men responsible for social order, they are often believed to be gifted with supernatural healing powers.

Worshippers after the service in front of the Great Mosque on Aïd al-Fitr Festival, that marks the breaking of the fast of the month of Ramadan. Erected in 1926, in a Spanish-Moorish architecture style, the Great Mosque of Paris is a harmonious complex of pavilions, gardens, large patio and prayer rooms, stretching over about 2acres in the Latin quarter. Passing in the foreground, two Comorian men as shown with their kofias, their typical headdresses embroidered with verses from the Koran.

At dusk, by the lake of Saint-Mandé, the large Jewish community celebrates the prayer of Tachlikh –litterally meaning “you will throw away”. On the first day of Roch Hachana, the Jewish New Year, the believers must go by the water and symbolically get rid of their sins.

A young boy in the very new first french Sikh temple (Gurdwara) in Bobigny. Besides the turban, each man following the tradition needs to keep the 5 K’s: Kesh –mustn’t cut his hair-, Kanga –a wooden comb-, Kara –a silver bracelet-, Kachera- a cotton underwear-, and Kirpan –a symbolical dagger-.

In African weddings, the family organizing the ceremony decides on a unique fabric that some women will have to put on. This fabric called “wax”, as it comes from the Indonesian batiks, will be cut according to each woman’s status. Here, in the middle, the three-piece outfit is dedicated to mothers ; on the right, the straight cut is for the young ladies, as for the kid, she has a plain dresss. Most popular wax patterns bear names. For the Cameroon wedding here, the motif is called ''don’t turn your back on to me, darling''.

Korean model with her hair dressed by Japanese stylist Yoshihiro Tanigushi, during a shooting in front of Indochinese memory, a memorial erected in 1907 and devoted to Vietnamese soldiers who fought in the French army ever since WWI on all theatres of operations. Tropical agronomy garden, Bois de Vincennes.

Some members of the association of the inhabitants of Foukien – a province along the China south-west coast- in France, enjoying a meal before parading for the Chinese New Year.

A group of Tibetans before the kitchen on the Dalai Lama’s birthday. The Pagoda in Vincennes.

Young members of the Association of French residentials from Indochinese origin dressed up in historical characters contemporary to Mu Guying, a legendary war heroine of the Song Dynasty.

Des nonnes veillent le cercueil d’un dignitaire religieux du bouddhisme vietnamien dans la grande salle de la coupole. Si ce genre de manifestation haute en couleurs est rare, elle témoigne toutefois de la variété des communautés qui viennent au crématorium du Père Lachaise et des cérémonies qui s'y déroulent.

A detail from an arch of the Sikh temple in Bobigny in the form of a lotus flower symbolizing spiritual awakening and freedom.

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