The Neighbourhood Association of La Alquería once again reminds us of an ancient craft of the countryside, threshing, with which they managed to separate the grain, for example, from the wheat of the spike. They did so last Saturday at the Los Conejitos farm, in the area, with a new exhibition in which they used two ancient techniques, that of the board and the roller, tools that some dared to try out. 

July and the beginning of August, they tell us, was the time for threshing, a trade that this collective revives every year in this way, "with an exhibition of threshing, which has been organised, fundamentally, by a member, Pepe Sedeño, with whom we have collaborated, and with a paella and other little things so that people can enjoy this day", affirmed the president of the association, Yolanda Sedeño.

Simulating an old threshing floor and with the help of three mules, the demonstration was mainly the responsibility of Salvador Porras, who as a child learned to thresh these mounds of wheat, "which are called 'parvas' and we used to say 'let's thresh this barley, wheat or whatever it was' and we did it either with the roller or the board, here, mostly, the board was used, the roller very little", said Porras.

His grandson, Noé Porras, has become a good bastion of this tradition, as he has learned this trade from his grandfather and many other tasks of yesteryear. "He teaches me how to drive the cows in the cart, how to thresh, how to plough and many other things", said the boy.

Many local people from the area and other parts of Mijas came to see this exhibition and even to take part in it, such as the councillor José Miguel Fernández (PSOE). Most of them were able to remember how the trade was done, like José Fernández, who said that "my father, my grandfather and my uncles threshed here".

A day of sharing

As in the olden days, after the work, it was time to regain strength. Nothing better than to do it at the headquarters of the collective with a menu consisting of tomato mince, lean meat and paella, for no less than eighty diners. "I used 8 kilos of rice and a huge "refrito" with ingredients taken from the vegetable garden yesterday afternoon", said the cook, Paco Moreno. Encarna Sedeño was also in charge of the food, who said that "we hope to have a good day with the friends and acquaintances who have come".

The attendees were delighted with this special day of socialising. Among those present were some members of the municipal corporation, such as the mayor of Mijas, Josele González (PSOE), and the councillors Jose Miguel Fernández (PSOE), Laura Moreno (PSOE), Daniel Gómez (PP), Francisca Alarcón (PP), Eloy Belmonte (VOX) and Francisco Jerez (VOX). The mayor thanked the group for keeping these traditions alive. "In Mijas, the third largest city in the province of Málaga, with 93,000 inhabitants and being an eminently touristic municipality, we continue to maintain our traditions; for me it is a must to be here with the residents of La Alquería supporting this activity and that they can always count on the Mijas Town Hall to keep our traditions alive", said González.

Councillor Daniel Gómez stressed that "it is very nice that young people maintain our traditions and want to continue learning and make sure that things like this, so fundamental, are not lost".

For his part, councillor Eloy Belmonte showed his "total support for our traditions, above all, the world of livestock; here in this area there is a great love of horses, mules, goat herders; everything that is tradition will always have our support".

Finally, the association presented commemorative trophies to the brave participants in the threshing: Antonio Estepa, Corro, Noé and Salvador Porras, Pepe Sedeño, Pepe Gámez and our team of reporters: Pablo Martínez and Amanda Gómez. Congratulations!

Share it with this link: https://mijasint.com/?a=28351