L’ESPUNYOLA, Spain (AP) — When Josep Altarriba seems to be throughout his parched fields, the Spanish farmer can’t keep in mind a time of such widespread drought in Catalonia. If it doesn’t rain within the subsequent two weeks, he says there’s little likelihood of saving the harvest.
What might be executed? For the mountain villagers of L’Espunyola, the reply is divine intervention.
On Sunday, round 250 residents introduced again the pale apply of a particular Mass and procession to wish to Our Woman of the Torrents, a neighborhood virgin related to rainfall.
Below largely sunny skies, worshippers lifted the colorfully painted statue of the Woman of the Torrents from its place of prominence within the stone church. She was then nestled onto a wood litter stuffed with inexperienced branches and hoisted aloft, to be carried across the village adopted by the bishop and parishioners.
“It’s not a magic act, it's an act of belief,” Bishop Francesc Conesa advised The Related Press.
Three years of very low rainfall and excessive temperatures put Spain formally into long-term drought, the nation’s climate company mentioned this month. Final 12 months was Spain’s sixth driest — and the most well liked since data started in 1961.
Catalonia, within the nation’s northeastern nook, is among the many worst-affected areas. Agrotourism and farming are the first sources of earnings for the 260 inhabitants of L’Espunyola, an hour and a half north of Barcelona.
“If it doesn’t rain inside two weeks, it’s very onerous to say what may occur,” Altarriba, the farmer, mentioned after celebrating Mass.
Native councilor and firefighter Eduard Perarnau described the particular Mass as a final resort. The federal government has restricted water utilization, asking farmers to restrict watering crops and bushes as a lot as attainable.
All three reservoirs within the space are beneath a 3rd of their capability. The close by La Baells reservoir is all the way down to 25%, and in some locations solely a trickle of water cuts by means of the layers of silt that was underwater.
The final time the village supplied prayers and hymns to Our Woman of the Torrents was in 2008, native media reported. And it labored — residents say the rains got here not lengthy after.
However this 12 months, the bishop doesn’t assure success.
“We've requested with religion, and many individuals have come and prayed with religion,” Conesa mentioned. “The Lord will give us what fits us.”
AP Author Raquel Redondo in Madrid contributed to this report.
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