The cachamorra (staff) is associated to the profession of tending cattle. It consists of a cane, generally made out of olive wood, crafted by the cowherd himself to his liking. The name it ultimately takes depends on the staff’s shape and on the type of cattle tended.
Taking as their cue the earthen bowl — once an ordinary, everyday item — Georgina Sardinha and Clarisse Chilrito lead us on a voyage through memories associated with this object. Breadmaking is an inevitable part of those.
Jacinto Rocha-Alta’s testimony draws us to the memories associated with the sieve and the miller’s profession. Milling was his livelihood for many years, as well as that of numerous other mill workers along the Guadiana.
João Chilrito, a Luz resident, learned his craft as a chair-maker from older men such as his father and grandfather, in a time when any man would make a chair. Every artisan, he claims, had their own way to build a chair — like a distinctive watermark, a chair can be told from the rest […]
The cast net comes associated with memories of fishing net making, fishing, and the riverbank landscape. The submergence of the old village and creation of Lake Alqueva inevitably brought along shifts in the existing styles of fishing on the Guadiana. The art of making fishing nets has since fallen into disuse, living on as an […]
sed to carry lunch on a farming day, the lunchbox conjures life out in the fields, namely during meal time — a ritual moment reinforcing social relations amongst workers.
The largest in the village, Josefa Rosa’s zinc pan was lent around the community: it was big enough for cooking the typical lamb stews on festive occasions such as weddings and christenings.
Ermelinda Godinho talks about the whitewash pot, which speaks to us about a world of essentially female chores, from its use in wedding ceremonies to the functional and symbolic universe of whitewashing, seen as an extension of the domestic space towards the outside.