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The land was tilled in the fall and the wheat was sown in the spring. All the tilling was done mostly by hand with the "bidente", a two-prong hoe. The weeding was also done by hand. In the spring the green fields of wheat undulated to the wind like gentle seas of green waves. The wheat grew tall and soon the wheat kernels formed on the top of the stem and were protected by upward barbed whiskers. When the wheat was still green and tender thousands of fireflies could be seen flickering over these fields in the early summer evenings.
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Children often chased the fireflies in the street of the village at night, and the girls used to sing a little poem:
Luce cappell piccina piccina
Vieni con me ca so'reggina
So' reggina di lu re
Luce cappell vieni con me! |
Which could be freely and unfaithfully translated into:
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small and bright in the sky,
I am the queen, come with me,
small and bright in the sky
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As summer advanced the wheat turned gold-yellow and gave out a scent of warm hay. The wheat was cut by hand with sickles, it was tied in bundles and left standing for a few days in the fields to finish the drying process. These bundles were then carried by donkeys and piled in the shape of |
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a hut on Colle Rosso.
Colle Rosso, or "Ca'rush" as it was known, was a flat field with three ancient stone paved circles where formerly the wheat was threshed with donkeys. As a child I barely remember seeing a few families using this method. The wheat was trampled by donkeys going round and round, then the wheat was separated from the shaft by tossing shovels full of it
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