“The current discontent comes from the stupid and foolish application of the law.” This statement, issued by a pastor a few days before the assembly of the Desert, a large annual gathering of Protestants in the south of France on the first Sunday in September, sums up the general feeling of many inhabitants of the Cévennes. From Alès to Vigan to Mont Aigoual (Gard), a silent anger is spreading as Protestant families note the increasing difficulties they encounter in burying their deceased in private cemeteries. The authorization given to Alain Delon to be buried in the garden of his property has only revived this deep feeling of injustice.
In this part of France where there are more temples than churches, the territory is still very marked by the Huguenot resistance which dates back to the 17th century.e century, after the revocation by Louis XIV of the Edict of Nantes. The ban on Protestant worship then forced families to bury their dead in secret. “No one knows where John Calvin is buried, recalls Jean-Christophe Muller, former pastor from Gard. Families used the cellars of their houses in the city or their gardens in the countryside, hence the multitude of small cemeteries scattered throughout the Cévennes.
The funeral rite has spanned the ages. “This tradition constitutes an essential element of the Cévennes identity and collective memory, it is also a marker of our landscapes”, explains Virginie Alloux, second deputy mayor of L’Estréchure.
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Burial in a private cemetery is regulated by the general code of local authorities. In particular, it is necessary to obtain the mayor’s certificate ensuring that the cemetery already exists and is located more than 35 meters from any dwelling, and the recent favorable opinion of a hydrogeologist approved by the ARS (regional health agency). His study must prove the absence of risk of pollution of springs, water tables or boreholes and prove the proper maintenance of the cemetery. A detail that is important: the latter cannot be done before death.
A “reminder of the law” in 2021
Until recently, in the Gard, families could continue their practices without too many restrictions, but on May 25, 2021, a letter from “reminder of the law” emanating from the prefecture was sent to the funeral operators of the department and to the mayors. “And then it became very complicated. We have the case of a man who was able to be buried at home in 2018, and this was not authorized for his wife in 2022,” testifies Frédérique Pallet, town hall secretary in L’Estréchure and Saumane, two communes in the Borgne valley, who cites the case of another resident wishing to be buried “with her husband and son, but that will certainly be impossible.” The family cemetery is in fact too close to the houses.
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