![]() This image, part of Giotto's fresco cycle of the Life of Magdalene at the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi, depicts the arrival of the Boat from Bethany. The Medieval Aurea Legenda (Golden Legend), from which Giotto drew his script, tells the story of how after the crucifixion, Mary Magdalene and her family and companions were set adrift on a rudderless boat. They arrived in southern France (center of a thriving Jewish community at the time) and began to teach and preach, each disciple eventually dispersing to lead congregations in different cities. The story lingers on in Provence not only in art and legend, but also in food. The delicious, buttery navette cookie is baked in the shape of this rudderless boat and eaten on the feast days of all the saints who travelled together.
1 Comment
Oranne Lee
7/24/2014 01:49:35 am
I hadn't heard about the boat shaped cookies before. "Rudderless" boat seems so significant -- obviously meant to imply that the destination was left to divine guidance. I think of the Hawaiian legend that their ancestors' canoes were guided from the Borneo region to the Hawaiian Islands......
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