Wheat’s cycle

Until the 19th century, Sicily was the breadbasket of the Mediterranean, an important island for the production of grain and its transformation into consumer goods that were both food and ritual. The wheat cycle has long determined the rhythm of community life, not only through the materiality of actions, but also through a festive calendar invoking abundance and fertility. The link between the festive calendar and the agro-pastoral calendar underlines the importance of cyclicity in the life of a community.

The wheat cycle on the island has a very specific sequence, given by the periods of cultivation, harvesting and processing. From September and throughout the autumn the land is ploughed and prepared to receive the new seed in November. The soil is cleared of weeds and, after the rains, it is recomposed with zzapuliatura, breaking up clumps of soil. During the growing season, the crop is carefully tended by the farmers.

Harvesting usually takes place in June. Nowadays it is done with the help of machinery, but until a few decades ago it was done by hand. The harvesters cut the ears of wheat and gathered them into bundles, which were laid out in the field and tied together into larger bundles with liami: ropes made from plant fibres. After the harvest, the bundles were taken to the threshing floor, a circular space where the work was done with the help of horses or donkeys. The threshing phase could last several days and involved the whole farming community, even lunch and convivial moments took place near the threshing floor. Threshing consisted of several stages. During the pisatura, the animals were driven around the threshing floor over the ears of wheat, which were shuffled by the farmers. Another phase was the spagghiata, the separation of the chaff from the grain. The farmers used pitchforks to throw the ears of wheat, which had been trampled by the animals, into the air; the heavier grains fell down, while the lighter parts were carried away by the wind. These stages were accompanied by songs to encourage the animals and the farmers, who worked non-stop even in the hottest hours of the day. Finally, the grain was stored in the houses in cannistri: large containers that allowed the correct air circulation inside to preserve the grain as long as possible.