The preservation of wheat

The wheat separated from the chaff and cleaned in the farmyard of further impurities was put in bags and transported to the village with a horse ('aspare', that is, loading a 'soma', or a load of wheat), or by means of a cart.

Since everyone grew the grain needed for their family reserves, there were no real barns. The wheat was piled up in any corner, after soaking the soil in vinegar, in order to keep away harmful insects (especially the wheat weevil).

According to a popular belief, noted by the linguist Max Leopold Wagner, to keep parasites away, it was necessary to place the sickle “a picu a susu” on the pile of wheat (or in the container in which the grains were placed), that is, with the tip and the teeth facing upwards.

The largest quantities of wheat were kept in cylindrical containers made of intertwined canes, or, especially in the Campidano, with rattan mats, each of which was rolled up and tied in such a way as to form a cylinder. In the Campidanese area, these containers were called “òrrius”, “lòssia”/“lùscia”; logudorese “òrrios”.

Since they were open at the bottom, the containers described above rested either on soil well soaked in vinegar, or on a wooden base. A few feet above the ground, a quadrangular opening is engraved in the container, which made it possible to conveniently pick up the grain when it no longer came down on its own.

Especially the retailers in Milis (Oristano), who practiced itinerant commerce all over the island, selling these mats and other products (oranges and Vernaccia), especially on the occasion of village and country festivals. The street vendors portrayed in Giuseppe Biasi's oil on canvas, entitled The Great Country Party (1910-1911) with their oranges and woven mats, are certainly thousands of thousands of people.

The preservation of the wheat brought from the farmyards took the name of “incùngia” (and the like) and was accompanied by a convivial festive moment, during which the harvest was celebrated, the culminating moment of the agrarian year.

Update

22/6/2024 - 15:59