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In the whole of the small town of Gaià (Bages) there is a stone building oriented to the four cardinal points, known as a “community unit” that had some very special functions and that, surely, we could wonder if it could not be useful in these times such changeable weather.
As they explain to us in an informative plate, from this enclosure “the priest sprinkled, with blessed water, all the fields and farmhouses of the parish term, to ward off storms and hailstorms.”
“For the blessing”, they continue detailing, “the rainwater was used, which, collected on the roof of the community, went to the stone sink carved in an interior angle”.
In Las Fotos de los Lectores de La Vanguardia we can see this venue from the outside and from the inside. The one in Gaià is by no means the only one, but rather, throughout our geography, we can discover more of these small buildings in the form of a porch open to four winds.
These conjuraderos are typical especially of the Pyrenees (in Castilla y León they are known as conjuraderos). Located near the church, the priest sheltered here to “communate”, that is, to exorcise storms, hailstorms and other adverse meteorological phenomena. They were fully integrated into the traditional Christian liturgy.
These temples, from the 16th to the 18th century, were specifically built to house rituals intended to ward off storms or thunderstorms, plagues and other dangers that threatened the crops that were so necessary for the population.
