An ethnographic initiative alluding to wheat harvesting recently took place at Quinta Leonor, in Jardim da Serra.
‘Harvest to the Moon, Thresh by the Sun,’ an organisation of the Centre for Sociocultural and Agroforestry Development and Innovation (CDISA), brought together, around 40 people, including two threshers and eight harvesters.
According to the leader of CDISA, Manuel Gonçalves Neto, in the past, it was said that “the moon (Parish Lantern) was a friend of the harvesters as is the sun as harvesting and threshing require different atmospheric conditions.”
This revival of the tradition finished at 22:00, aiming to remember that harvesters chose to reap cereals in the early morning or the night of a full moon. The cool weather made the work easier, kept the straw from breaking, and prevented the ears from falling apart. On the other hand, the threshers had no alternative to the hot weather: the knitting (threshing) of the cereals had to take place in broad daylight, when temperatures were higher. On the threshing floor, with each blow of the flail, the cereal grains easily jumped out of the ears, compensating the effort of the knitters,” explains the head of the organisation.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
Photo: JM
