Pardon de la chapelle de la Joie

Between the First and Second World Wars, the pardon de la Joie became one of the most emblematic pardons in the Pays Bigouden. Writers, photographers and painters such as Mathurin Méheut and Lucien Simon immortalised these popular scenes. On the day of the pardon, the local people put on their finest costumes, a sign of social success and wealth. From the 1920s onwards, the religious procession was transformed into a secular festival, with the arrival of merry-go-rounds and circuses. The pardon de la Joie was above all a religious procession during which the sailors thanked the Virgin for protecting them. Léon Toulemont, a journalist from Pont-l'Abbé, wrote in Le Progrès du Finistère on 27 August 1921: "Here, in the midst of this wealth of fabrics, are a few sailors, a candle in their hand, barefoot, bareheaded, their shirts untucked over their robust chests, fulfilling a vow made on a stormy day".
10am: blessing of the sea and procession
at 10.30am: mass