Benjamin Peter 10:13 am, March 18, 2023

Faced with the lack of rainfall, a winegrower decided to turn to the skies to try to solve the winter drought. This Saturday, a procession with the relics of Saint Gaudérique is organized in the streets of Perpignan, to try to promote the return of rain in the region.

In southwestern France, rain continues to be desperately awaited. So, in Perpignan, some farmers are trying an amazing solution, by relying on heaven to put an end to the climatic episode. Since the beginning of January 2023, less than half a millimeter of precipitation has fallen in the region. A situation never seen before for Georges Puig, winemaker, who asked the priest of the cathedral of Perpignan to organize this Saturday in the streets of the city a religious procession to ask heaven to make the rain fall.

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"We must pray"

"It is by pruning my vines with employees who are Muslims," that the idea came to him, he explains to the microphone of Europe 1. "They told me, 'You have to pray.' It moved me because they were really sincere. Usually, I don't go to Mass every Sunday but I wanted to come", after this discussion, "because we hold lots of agricultural meetings to find solutions, but since there is no water at all, prayer is a solution", judges the winegrower.

And it was while talking with Father Christophe Lefebvre that the idea was born this procession with the relics of Saint Gaudérique, patron saint of Catalan farmers. A tradition forgotten since the Revolution.

"It's not folklore"

"The centuries-old tradition was that the relics were immersed. So we chose symbolically to ask farmers to carry the stretcher to the bed of the Tet, so in the middle of the river. Knowing that at this moment, there are twenty centimeters of water in the best case, "says the Abbot.

For Jean-Luc Antoniazzi, who chairs the cultural association of the Cathedral of Perpignan from where the procession will start, praying has become the last resort. "Only the sky can fill the dams, here we are," he said.

He continued: "This is not folklore. If this procession is not enough, we will surely make others because the situation is really catastrophic." If this were to be the case, they plan to turn to the Black Madonna of Thuir. But it will not necessarily be necessary, Météo France finally forecasting rain this Saturday in Perpignan.