Threshing

The *parva* in La Alpujarra is an ancestral agricultural tradition that involves separating cereal grain (such as wheat, barley, or rye) from the straw following the summer harvest.

Wheat, rye, barley, and other cereals were sown during October and November. The growing season lasted approximately seven months, with the harvest—or reaping—taking place in June and July. Reaping was carried out during workdays known locally as "sun-to-sun" shifts.

Next, the harvested crop was transported—a process known here as *abarcinar*—to a site called an *era* (a space used until recently for threshing, the physical act of separating the grain from the rest of the plant). It was at this location that the *parva* process took place. This involved threshing the cereals using mules wearing yokes made of esparto grass around their necks. These yokes were connected by ropes and bindings to the threshing sledge—an assembly of joined planks featuring sharp flint shards embedded in the underside (later replaced by metal saw blades, and eventually by wheels with saw-like teeth)—forming the threshing "machinery."

The mules would begin to circle over the spread-out grain, allowing the blades attached to the yoke to break up the straw and release the grain. The person driving the mule pulling the implement would ride atop this sledge. Meanwhile, farmhands would stir the straw to prevent it from becoming compacted, using pitchforks to turn it over so that it could be threshed repeatedly. To separate the grain from the straw, workers used pitchforks to toss the straw into the air—a process popularly known here as *aventao* (winnowing). This relied on the invaluable help of the wind, which naturally winnowed the mixture in mid-air, carrying away the straw while letting the grain fall back to the same spot.
 
Winnowing machines, which made this task easier, began to appear in the early 20th century. Afterward, the grain was stored in a type of rectangular, roofless silo built by the day laborers. The typical diet during these days of hard labor consisted of *migas* (fried breadcrumbs) in the morning, *puchero* (stew) at midday, and *cazuela* (casserole) in the evening.