Women work in Salento by Tiziana Diso Istituto Comprensivo Cutrofiano (Lecce) - Italia Comenius 2008-2010 Fonti: "Le antiche usanze nuziali salentine" di Valentina Vantaggiato Testi e immagini dal Sito Ufficiale Comune di Otranto (Le) http://www.comune.otranto.le.it/citta_territorio/antiche_usanze_salentine.php

1. Istituto Comprensivo Scuola Primaria e Secondaria di primo grado Cutrofiano – Lecce - Italy www.comprensivocutrofiano.it PROJECT COMENIUS 2008 – A.s. 2009-2010 ROOTS AND WINGS Dirigente Scolastico Prof. Saverio Cesari

2. Women work in SalentoTherewas a timewhoseworkingknowledgewas in the hands, handed down from generation to generation toensure a future where the meaningof life lay in littlethings cardingcotton

3. washerwomen ... Young women ... accompany the screen in a sinuous danceIn water and soap they clean clothes in a whirling dance step (franca bassi)

4. Until the first half of last century, the role of women in society was very limited. They were not allowed to vote, educate themselves, and their only task was to look after children and home. This happened all over the world, but in Southern Italy this phenomenon was more extreme and dramatic. Women's Greek Salento lived between four walls, together with mops, and dusty and pots. Women at school Women’s vote

5. Socialization and entertainment Case a corte (courtyard houses) The only moment of entertainment when it came time, was granted by the laundry. The houses were equipped with a courtyard in which there was a basin for washing clothes. One court for three or four families, which allowed women to meet and talk a bit. And then back inside the walls. Men, however, once they returned from the countryside, used to wander the streets of the villages.

6. Domestic work performed by women will absorb a huge amount of their time and include not only the usual care activities of home and family (cleaning the house and clothes, preparing food, raising children), but also crafts such as spinning, weaving and the making of clothes, baking bread, cheese, preserves, and even the collection of fruits, herbs and wood, breeding of domestic animalsor poultry. Housework: weawing To Fix the date of birth of the weaving in Salento is very difficult due to lack of historical sources, we may well suppose that it is secular. Lu telaru, the chassis was an invlauable tool in housing. Often, next to some chairs, it was the only furniture in the room with the mattrabbanca (a big table with e big drawer)

7. Work in the …..fields Women worked in the fields together with their relatives or, if married, their husband. They usually were involved in tobacco, wine or oil production.

8. Women and …..tobacco (Le tabacchine) women working into a tobacco farm Tobacco growing was once subjected to some rules. He who did the request was assigned an area to grow as well as a proportional amount to plant Women filling boxes with tobacco

9. Women and the grapeharvest Women were involved for the grape harvest in autumn. They worked in the vineyards and proceeded to the grape harvest.

10. Women harvestingolives The ancient trees of Salento require a particular technique of harvesting the olives.By collecting them from the ground, with networks or by collecting them from the tree. They are processes that require much effort for a minimum wage. Returning home the woman-picker had to play the role of housewife, mother and wife.

11. Courtship The young woman, to defend her conduct, should not immediately accept the courtship of the man. Precisely for this, appeared on the intermediaries, in exchange for gifts or payments in kind, offered their collaboration, which was to convince the girl and deliver the messages of love. Then they delivered the girl a photograph of the claimant, if she decided to keep it,that meant that she accepted his proposal. At this point, she could be considered "Zita" (fiancée), and the boy "zitu" (boyfriend). This first phase of the engagement took place in secret.

12. La pizzica Subsequently…. It is a dance of courtship during which the two dancers approach, but never touch. An exchange of looks more or less challenging, a series of gestures underline the man's desire to "enter into the good graces" of the woman, and she to be courted by the man, the woman, however, escapes if they try to approach. The mediators shall inform the girl's mother on the future union, and if she is satisfied that he came from a good family, gave her approval, the boy could enter, for the first time in their home. This step was called the trasatura (the entrance). The parents of the girl, after eight days exactly, went to the house of the young man, to make the acquaintance of his family, and to speak about the dowry. At this meeting, called "parlamentu," theyquantify their possessions

13. Lu curredu (the bride's outfit ) Women's work was so heavy and full-time, the women filled the holes of a household often poor, with mending, spinning, knitting, working in common with other women in the courts, in the evening, while men conversed on the streets or played cards into taverns. The production of fabrics was therefore an important part of the economic role of women in vintage country and served to round up, often with the piecework, the family budget. During activities of weaving and embroidery were born useful artifacts, trousseau, shawls, blankets, carpets of great value, an expression of creativity of women. Strong social value assumed in those days, the preparation of the kit, or dowry, it was the only good that, by right, was handed down in the female line.

14. The engagement In the period of engagement, they organized the wedding. The girl, after choosing her future home, gave the finishing touches to the kit. The day of the come out of the publications, the mother-in-law, gave the daughter a gold necklace, which indicated the deep bond that united their lives This ceremony, known as (the chain), concluded with a banquet. From now and until the wedding day, she stayed close to home, leaving only to go to church. In those days, she moved into her new home her kit.

15. The week before the wedding On Thursday before the celebration of the rite of marriage, the dowry was exposed to “moscia" (showing), and all the wedding guests were required to participate in this exhibition. In these circumstances, the mother-in-law gave the girl a scarf or a dress, and to the future husband a shirt with cufflinks. Very often, once, were the wedding, celebrated in response to "fuitina”. The lovers, running away from home for various reasons (parental disapproval, social differences, etc..) ,came back after a few days, driven by fatigue and hunger. The respective parents, after the multiple reprimands, quickly organized the wedding, in order to restore the lost honor of the girl. Many writers have devoted to this salentino theme several works and several poems.

16. The marriage Between small and large ritual preparations came the long-awaited day and it was a big party for everyone. After the Mass, guests and spouses, went to the husband's house, where they held the wedding dinner. Past eight days, it spread with another banquet, this time, however, in the family home of the bride. The mother-in-law took the opportunity to give the daughter a frame, a spindle, and a broom to remind her that, now, should take care of household chores.

17. After the weddingceremony The first night of marriage, husband and wife didn’t ly in the marital bed, on which they placed the veil, the wreath of orange blossoms, and the wedding dress. It was believed, in fact, that on it an angel came down to bless it. In the following week, the young wife did not leave her house. On the first outing in public after the marriage, she and her husband went to church to listen to the mass. After that, the life of the couple began ordinary life. While the man worked, the woman took care of the house.

18. Traditionalfiguresof women in Salento Among the more traditional female figures in SALENTO it cannot be forgotten mourners, the midwives, the rufiane and Macareus. The formers, also known as "Repute" or "chiangimuerti" mourners by trade, referring to the classical tradition, performed during the funeral rites of the plaintive songs with theatrical gestures, dressed in dark clothes and with their faces covered by a black veil , went on compensation, at the residence of the deceased to settle his/her qualities with praise, laments, chants, shouts and frantic gestures.

19. The midwives If the mournerswere the protagonistsof the last phaseof the cycleofhuman life, the midwiveshadrecurrence at the timeof birth. Thesewerethatoneswhohelped the women abouttogive birth, alongwithneighbours and the relativesof the mother, whichmadeherfindplentyof hot water, bandages and towels.

20. The sentimentalmediators The pimps and sentimentalmediators “traffichine” wereableto combine meetings at the house offriends and relatives, to create opportunitiesforknowledgeamongyoung people free ofmarriageableage. .

21. The “Macare” or sorcerers Women closer to the historical figures are undoubtedly the magic “macare”. They were a kind of witches or sorcerers who according to popular belief, knew the formulas with which ward off bad luck, propitiatory rituals to practice, to bring back a lover fled, to suggest remedies against the evil eye and even some of them participated in the building of the legendary Bell in Soleto as the wishes of the magician Tafuri.

22. Salento: Women today Ofcourseitisverychanged the status of women today, especially in cities, thanksto the media. The mass literacyhasalsohelpedto liberate women frompatriarchalconstraints. Salento women todayhaveconqueredmanyrights and indipendenceasmany women in the world, They are immersed in double work in the dailyfightbetweenneeds and care of family and commitment and professional work ,theyundertaketobuildtheir future and thatoneoftheirchildren.

23. Comenius 2008-2010. ROOTS AND WINGS Istituto Comprensivo Statale “Don Bosco” – Lecce - Italia www.comprensivocutrofiano.it A cura dei ragazzi e ragazze delle classi II° guidati dalla Prof.ssa Tiziana Diso