The Farm House as a Spiritual Refuge

The hearth inspires security to the dwellers of a farm house, and gives them a feeling of equality when they are gathered around it. The ground plan reflects the division of labour and, consequently, the stratification of the family. The division of labour provides individual family members with more time for activities envolving their spiritual growth rather than mere survival.
The faith is interlaced with land cultivation, food production, preparation and storage, for it is the food that makes survival possible. Some cultures therefore regard the kitchen as a sacred place. Stone granaries in Southwestern Spain, part of the heritage of its ancient dwellers, similarly prove that food-connected spaces are designed as cult objects which, however, must be carefully planned in order to allow for an optimal usage of the space. Our present time is marked by a process of secularisation. The above-mentioned examples, however, indicate that we may be aiming at secularising what used to be secular before it became sacred.
The positioning on pile foundations protects the home from floods, beasts and enemies, and enables the dwellers to monitor the surroundings. Also the positioning of the dining table in the corner opposite the entrance guarantees for better monitoring. Such a positioning, allowing to monitor the entrance, satisfies the human conscious need to control the situation. As soon as the bench and the dining table are moved beneath the window or in the middle of the dining room, the corner with sacred objects disappears. Similarly, as soon as the hearth, the source of warmth, is moved away from the table, it becomes deprived of its symbolic connotation although it is the very placement of the hearth in a different room that implies a better quality of life. With poor farmers, the table acquires this symbolic value, for it is here that the farmwife makes the bread and everybody dines.

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