Harvest in the Past

In the past, the bulk of work for peasants was the harvest, which was done by hand. The workers went to the wheat fields with their scythes on their shoulders. The work took a long time to finish and everyone helped, including children and the elderly, for the little seeds were the main ingredient of their food. 

Numerous beliefs and customs were connected with the wheat harvest which were often also tied to religious rituals. In some places, work was started with prayers, in other places, people knelt at the side of the field and crossed themselves. According to preserved information concerning crop harvesting, people attributed great importance to the first wheat-stalk they cropped, so they gave it to the poultry in the hope of it bringing them health and fertility.        

The preservation of this knowledge and the passing on of it to younger generations is extremely important for our heritage, which is why every year, in the village of Domanjševci, there is an event where the old harvesting techniques and the threshing of wheat is demonstrated. One villager, Zoltán Kalamár, also tells the story of how he remembers the harvest in the old days.