This operation ended when all the water contained in a fat bellied vase (a kind of caraf similar to the Greek “olpe”) was absorbed by the flour. Then a portion of the mixture was placed on one of the two maguli or schjianaturi and the dough was further worked, rotating on itself, being pushed upwards until it took on the shape of a loaf of bread, finally, it was left to rest and rise but not before it was cut to prevent over swelling and marked with a cross as if to give blessing to each loaf. When the tiring job of mixing was over, a small portion of the dough, panetto, was set aside to ferment and give rise to a new yeast. This was then ready to be used by another clever housewife so that the bread would be better. When taking it outside, everyone was careful not to expose it to the night air lest it should lose its miraculous power. All this was only half of the job, immediately following this came the delicate phase of preparing the oven. Even the most young helped out in their way by fetching the lavatu or collecting small portions of dough and playing at making their own small loaves, known as cuduredi.

With their ingenuity and cheerfulness, the children helped make the atmosphere light when the work was hard. The oven called much attention and was fed with twigs and small bits of wood gathered from surrounding fields and from the mountains. The countrywomen, forisi, would come down to the town with bundles of wood which they would sell or barter for whatever product weight for weight. Usually the fire was lit with a pole, attizzaturi, it was rolled around the oven and when the walls turned white, the oven was hot enough and it was time to put the loaves in to bake.

With the tiraturi, rake, (adequate for its purpose), the hot ashes were brought forward onto the u gangularu du furnu (a front shelf), where it was only partially left because all the rest ended up in the focularu (an area under the oven). With a flat baker’s shovel, the various loaves were placed in the oven and, if the temperature had to be brought down, the cadipu (small baker’s shovel with a wet cloth incorporated to remove the ashes) was used. The whole situation was covered with an iron lid known as cummoggnjiu. The cadipu along with the tiraturi, the attizzaturi and the pala were the necessary utensils for a good oven. All the utensils were made of amidearu, ash wood, a hard wood, necessary for its purpose. The various loaves and a few rolls (cudureda), made for the joy of the children, would fill up the entire area in the oven, while the pitta (flat unraised bread) used to anticipate the state of the baking, were placed near the mouth of the oven. Everything stayed in its place for more than a few hours. Finally, the smell of baking bread would fill the house and the housewife would feel repaid for all her hard work.

"Simina quando voi ca a giugnu meti"

"A giugnu  ndi vidimu pellegrinu,
cu zappa fundu e cui simina chjianu"

Panorama Caulonia Superiore

Close to the thirteenth of June, the wheat fields reached maturity and were ready to be harvested. The wheat sown during the previous autumn and sprouted near the beginning of spring, after the winter inactivity, at the beginning of June was revealed in all its splendour of maturity. It was a wonder to look at fields which looked like a sea of gold dotted here and there with red poppies, paparina. Once again the miracle had been worked, the land was repaying the farmer for all his hard work. All went well when even the weather played its part answering the expectations of every “bonu massaru”:

“Marzu chjiovi, chjiovi
aprili mai mu fini
a majiu na bon’acqua
e la stagioni è fatta"

In the countryside, silence reigned supreme and every now and then a clapping of hands, a beating of pots would resound or the cries of a farmer to scare off the birds from the fields. Work would start at dawn, “u massaru” would signal the beginning of the harvest once he had assembled the farcia (scythe), the cannoli (bits of cane) to protect his fingers from badly placed sweeps and the treated sheep skin overalls. The young farmers would use u farcigghjiu (a sickle), known as “muzzuni”, and they did not need to protect their fingers with bits of cane. From this original form of protection came the local saying which described a scarce attitude to work: “o malu metituri ‘nci mpaccianu i cannedi”.

The cannizzola du ranu with its reschjia (stalk and head) would be cut and would fall to the ground. Behind the men, the gleaners would immediately begin the gathering process and then pass onto the ligatura phase. Once around a hundred spikes had been gathered, they would be tied to the stalks of other spikes, so as to form the gregne. After the harvesting, all that remained on the land was fifteen centimetre high stubble, ristuccia, which was used for grazing while it was still soft. Meanwhile, the gregne would grow in number, and once they reached around thirty, they would be grouped together to form u cavajuni which would lie on the ground for about ten days to dry out in the open air and under the rays of the sun. Care was taken to form the cavajuni following a well tested technique. Three gregne were laid in the shape of a pyramid then others were laid all around them.

Once the necessary time for drying the crop had passed, its transportation to an adequate place for the next phase was organised. The spikes would be laid in the sheet of the gregne ( a material made of a web and weft of broom fibre). Thus wrapped, it was carried by the women on their heads. Donkeys were also used to transport up to eight gregne in their nache. A naca was formed by two parallel and horizontal axes held together by willow (salicu) suckers or by laganaru (a bush with elongated leaves and blue flowers which was good for making baskets) in the same way that a crib would be hung. That is where the word naca came from.

Naturally, the wealthier farmers used a cart drawn by oxen to transfer all the gregne to the aria, where the groups of cavajuni were gathered, thus starting the timogna. The timogna could contain around twenty tumani, which corresponded to about ten quintals of wheat. Once the timogna was formed, it was immediately pinned in place by eight to ten canes which would protect it from any sudden blasts of wind.

Sea of Roccella Jonica

Usually, at this point, the first Sunday of July had been reached. This was when the festivities in honour of the Madonna delle Grazie took place in the sea off Roccella and all was ready to girare all’aria (turn to air) the harvested wheat.

The next stage which, with the advent of machinery, became known as “threshing”, took place. The oxen had already been set up with new utensils, more efficient and apt to chop the spikes. The oxen, coupled up to form u parigghjiu, were placed under the yoke (juvu) and, tied to it with the pàjiaru, were ready to carry out the operation. A big two metre chain attached the yoke via a sort of bollard to a quadrilateral stone, a petra i l’aria, weighing between thirty and forty kilos, (the circular shape was avoided so as to not let it roll and damage the oxen’s parigghjiu). Everything ready, now only the wind had to play its part; certainly the days when the sirocco wind blew saddened the farmers and they would have to wait for the right moment.

Experience taught that the week of wind was the same week which saw the preparations for the festivity in honour of the Madonna del Carmelo (in the third week in July) and everything possible was done to be free for that date. The most dextrous and strong farmer would hold the pitchfork a tridenta (this important tool was made out of amidearu wood or agghjiastru wood, it could also be made of iron in which case one had to be extremely careful not to damage the oxen). Our farmers had an innate love for all domestic animals and particularly for oxen for whom they had developed a strong sense of familiarity, enough to call each one by name, so the calls of “Galanu”, “Hjiuredu”, “Baggianu”, “Capurali”, “Mercuredu”, “Sabbatinu” for the males, and for the females “Bandera”, “Palumba”, “Joculana”, would echo round the countryside.

When each spike was broken, cut up and nearly finely chopped, the palijiari (shovelling) phase would begin. The able farmers, with their big or small pitchforks or better still with their a pala i l’aria, would lift and throw the wheat high up and against the wind. This was done because the heavier grains would fall backwards while the light bits and the hay (known as pinne) would fly further away, not however very far away as it too was recycled and used. The whole process was conditioned by the wind, if it stopped blowing, the work stopped as well. If it blew harder, the work stopped because the whole harvest risked being blown away. All went ahead with great vigour, and the younger farmers would spur each other on with cries such as “volu, volando giuvani schjietti e fimmini abbasandu”.

The oscillation of the gramone separated the grains of wheat from the remaining bits of hay and stalk known as “gruppi”. The impurities remained on the tin bottom while all the hard wheat slipped through the holes and was gathered on the “lanzolu du ranu”. All the harvest’s fruit was blessed by God, in the words of travellers happening to pass by a farm: “Diu mu vu benedici”. Work finished when the entire harvest was weighed and measured by wooden containers which corresponded to the units of measurement used by the people of the south before the Unification of Italy. “U menzu-stuppedu” was the smallest container and its double was called “u stuppedu” which amounted to six kilograms; then there were the bigger measuring units: “u quartu” (twelve or thirteen kilos), “a menzalora” (twenty-four and a half kilos) and two “menzalori” made “u tùmanu” (tomolo), which was fifty kilos (this last measurement unit was a virtual one, the corresponding container did not exist). The gathered and measured wheat was taken home to be stored in a “cannizzedu”, a kind of chest. It was removed from there with a “menzalora” according to need and placed on a table where it would undergo the “accoccitura” process. All the members of the family would gather around the table with the pile of wheat grains and clean it of the last impurities (a few small stones, oglio seeds, wild grass seeds and tiny bits of hay) so that grain by grain (cocciu pe cocciu) it was checked and readied to be taken to the mill where it would be turned into flour…

The sacred and the profane in the caulonian june
by Gustavo Cannizzaro
www.caulonia2000.it - May 2001