Not a rain dance but a rain procession in the streets of Perpignan this Sunday 10th March to bring on the rain

The procession will plead with Saint Galdric, (various spellings possible) patron saint of  Catalans, for rain. It will be led by the Bishop of Perpignan-Elne, Mgr Thierry Scherre, and joined amongst others by farmers, winegrowers and breeders.

In the 10th century, Sant-Galdric was canonised in Narbonne during a terrible drought. A procession was organised for his canonisation and his body (he was dead at the time) was brought in by the Bishop of Toulouse. During the procession, as the bearers of Sant-Galdric’s shrine passed by, a spring of water gushed out just beneath the shrine. Had to be a miracle.

In fact, when Sant-Galdric’s relics arrived in the Pyrénées-Orientales in 1014, several ‘miracles’ were recorded, including the amazing cure of a paralysed person in Vinça. After that, one of the saint’s ribs was kept in the small town and believers would parade from Saint-Martin-du-Canigó to the plains to immerse the relic in water where the river Têt meets the Mediterranean, near Sainte-Marie-la-Mer.

Hundreds of processions took place over the years, and  the ‘Brotherhood of Saint Gaudérique’,  was formed. The tradition died out during the French Revolution but was revived last year, 2023.

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