Threshing

Once the harvest was complete, the wheat was brought to the farmyard, so that it could be subjected to threshing (log. trìula, but also ardzolare; camp. trèula).

The month of the threshing was July. It is no coincidence that the month of July is called in Logudorese “mes' 'e trìulas” (month of threshing) and in Campidanese mes' 'e argiolas (month of farmyards).

The aia (s'argiola) was an open, circular esplanade exposed to the winds, normally belonging to the municipality. The space allocated to the farmyards, in this case, was used by all the inhabitants.

In many centers, the space reserved for setting up the farmyards is still alive in the memory of the elderly. So in Quartu Sant'Elena (CA), where the current Piazza IV Novembre is known by a large part of the population as “is Argiolas” (the aia).

In some historic regions of Sardinia (Meilogu and Planargia) there were smaller farmyards for private use called 'chedhuthas', a term deriving from the Latin 'cella' plus the diminutive suffix -ucia, in the sense of 'small supply', as indicated by the Bavarian linguist Max Leopold Wagner.

The first operation to be carried out consisted of carefully cleaning the air, eradicating the weeds, and removing the impurities with a scoop of branches, before spreading the wheat in the shape of a wheel with the ears facing inwards. There were different methods of threshing. The first consisted of passing one or more pairs of oxen over the wheat, which usually carried a heavy flat stone (Logudorese: pred' 'e ardzolas; Campidanese: preda de treulai). Instead, almost always in the Campidano and in some places in Logudoro, untamed horses were used, mainly mares. In this case the animals, aligned with each other in number of 4 or 6 and in larger farmyards up to a number of twenty.

A wooden pole was planted in the center of the farmyard and around the top of it a rope was secured, to the terminating part of which to connect the said chain.

What was possible to thresh over a day constituted “an ardzolada” (lit.: 'a farmyard'). In the evening, having cut off the oxen or the horses, a heap was made with the threshed wheat. If the breeze blew it was ventilated (Campidanese: Bentulai), throwing it high with a shovel, in order to separate the chaff from the wheat. When dealing with small quantities of wheat, a basket was used (Campidanese: palina, Logudorese: canistedda), or with a sieve, throwing the contents high, so that the chaff would fly away, while the seeds fell back into the container. Usually the chaff was subjected to additional ventilation, so as to collect the remaining grain.

The wheat separated from the chaff was first cleaned in the farmyard and then back home, of stones or other impurities (Logudorese: purgate; Campidanese: prugai). To clean the wheat, large, round and flat straw or asphodel baskets were used and, once the operation was completed, they were poured into special corbs.

Update

22/6/2024 - 15:42