#Safareig
What is
In Mallorca, the safareig is an uncovered water tank for irrigation: stone or, later, cement, which collects water from a siquia, sinia, well or fountain (DCVB, Bal.). It is not the laundry room: the DCVB does not register the meaning of laundry tub in the Balearic Islands. In Mallorca, the stone tank where the oil from the tafona press is collected (DCVB, Mall.) is also called safareig.
How is
- Shape: rectangular, square or round; stone walls with lime mortar, coated so that they do not leak (technique to be verified).
- Parts: entrance (channel or mouth of the siquia), sortida or watering hole with a plug, sometimes a ladder to go down to clean (Majorcan terms to be verified).
- Measurements: very variable; without verified data.
- Safareig de tafona: construction bucket on the ground, under the press ( premsa de biga ).
How is fa
Work of stonecutters and margers, with the same stone as the marjada ( marès i picapedrers , pedra en sec ). It is part of the hydraulic system of the Serra: dams, siquies, safareigs and aljubs ( síquies i qanats , aljubs ).
Com s'usa
1. It is filled slowly with the syquia, the sinia ( poal i cadufos ) or the windmill.
2. When it is time to irrigate, the outlet opens and the water goes down the ditches to the terraces.
3. It is cleaned of mud from time to time.
- The accumulated water gives flow: it waters at once what the fountain's thread could not.
Vocabulary
- safareig / safreig: irrigation pond (Bal.).
- safareig (de tafona): oil works deposit (Mall.).
- síquia: ditch.
- aljub: cistern covered with rainwater.
- sínia: Ferris wheel.
- torn d'aigua: irrigation shift (to verify Majorcan term).
- «Quin safareig!»: jaleo (Penedès, not Mallorcan).
History
- Islamic era (10th-13th centuries): network of qanats, syquies and safareigs in the Serra (Consorci Serra de Tramuntana).
- 13th century onwards: the network is modified and expanded; in use until the 20th century and sometimes today.
- 1610: in Sóller safareigs are built in the square to collect the lost oil from the siquies of the tafonas (Hist. Sóller, DCVB).
- 1764: «30 pipes of oli... to saferex's mouth» (BSAL, DCVB).
- 20th-21st century: many safareigs become swimming pools or are abandoned (to verify).
On veure'n
- Serra de Tramuntana: Sóller, Banyalbufar, Valldemossa, Bunyola (Raixa, Alfàbia), Orient (to verify visitable examples).
- Pla de Mallorca, next to Sínies and windmills ( Sinies ).
Why is it design
- Time store: converts a small and continuous flow into a large and punctual irrigation.
- Landscape architecture: together with the sea and the siquia, it draws the Tramuntana.
- Thermal inertia and biodiversity: open water that refreshes and welcomes fauna (please verify source).
For the project
- Photographic inventory of Tramuntana safareigs for the atlas (shape, stone, current use).
- Question: safareig-piscina: can it once again be agricultural and bathing infrastructure at the same time?
- Contact: Consorci Serra de Tramuntana.
Frequently asked questions
What is Safareig?
In Mallorca, the safareig is an uncovered water tank for irrigation: stone or, later, cement, which collects water from a siquia, sinia, well or fountain…
What are the traditional words for Safareig?
Some words: aljub, safareig (de tafona), safareig / safreig, sínia, síquia, torn d'aigua, «Quin safareig!».
Sources
Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.