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Catherine Segurane Day |
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| This week, September 2nd Nice celebrates Catherine Segurane Day – the holiday dedicated to the city’s saint patron who saved it in rather an unusual way. In 1543, when the city faced siege by the Turkish invaders and expected no help from the rest of France (as it was a part of Savoy which was independent of France at that time), Catherine Segurane, an ordinary washerwoman, led people to the battle and provoked Turks to retreat by… showing them her bare bottom. The legend says that Turks, Muslims by religion, were so repulsed by this act of mooning, that immediately they ran away. The woman is immortalized in a bas-relief monument and on this day a mass is celebrated in the Sainte Réparate Cathedral to honour the heroine. There will also be a procession dedicated to Catherine Segurane and a traditional wreath deposition. |
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