Museum of art and popular traditions “Michele Capuano”

In June we began wheat harvest. At dawn the farmers were already in the fields and, after having tied the animals to a tree with long ropes to allow them to graze, they sharpened the scythes with the whetstone which they always kept wet in a horn hanging from their belt with water inside. They then inserted the rudimentary finger guards which everyone had built on their own by appropriately cutting pieces of cane with a diameter equal to that of their fingers.

They crossed their foreheads and after saying aloud "name of God", they bent their backs and, making good wishes regarding the goodness of the year, they began cutting the wheat which was first placed on the ground, then tied in sheaves and finally, in the evening, piled up in bins. For the harvest, the Messaria sickle. The wheat, cut at a height of 15-20 cm and collected in small piles, was then gathered into sheaves with a diameter of about 30 cm tied with a handful of the same wheat.

La threshing it took place on the farmyard (large space in front of the farms). It consisted of turning the animals on the sheaves in order to crush the ears and make the grain come out. Many carried out the same operation with the flail (an instrument made up of two wooden sticks joined by a rope used to beat the grain). The phases of separation of the straw from the grain, ventilation and winnowing followed.

Before the advent of the combine harvester, the moment of threshing was always the moment of collective celebration. The grinders they were used to grind grain at home when you couldn't go to the mill.

To thresh large quantities of grain, as well as for ploughing, recourse was made to animal strength. A large number of animals were turned on the sheaves piled up in the threshing floor and the trampling of their hooves made the grains come out of the ears, or a pair of oxen dragged over the ears scattered circularly in the threshing floor a large stone crossed by grooves in the lower face, or a heavy wooden board, built with large planks and equipped in the lower part with toothed and protruding iron guides.

The overcoming of these traditional methods of harvesting and threshing began to take shape between the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century when the capitalist development of agriculture favored the diffusion of reaping, mowing and threshing machines in the countryside. They were equipped with mechanisms that replaced the farmer's proven manual skills, while the steam engine provided the power necessary to set them in motion when animal motive power was not sufficient. The results were multiple: increase in labor productivity, improvement in the quality of the grain, greater control of the owners over the production process.

When the wheat was ripe, the fields were harvested with horse-drawn reapers. The threshing took place on the threshing floor; to separate the grains, the wheat was beaten with a rather long stick, to the end of which was tied with a leather strip, another stick, shorter and heavier, which was rotated in the air and fell onto the pile of ears . With the invention of the internal combustion engine, this work was done with the help of the thresher. The final moment of threshing consisted of putting the grain into bags, while the straw was stacked in large bins.

The country was ancient illuminated by oil lamps which were turned on and off by a called municipal employee lamplighter.

All the houses had one or two floors above ground and the distance between them was no more than four metres, so the women, staying at home doing business, could easily converse with each other or pass objects to each other with a cane. one balcony to another.

The homes had one or, at most, two rooms. Inside there was everything necessary for living: a large bed, a chest, a table, some chairs and some stools. In the kitchen, pans, piñatas, wooden or terracotta plates, jars for water supplies and straw baskets hanging on the wall completed the furnishings.

The darkness was barely illuminated by the oil lamp, then by the oil lamp and, for those who could afford it, by an electric light bulb, with a flat-rate UNES contract, power 15 watts.

Time was marked by bells. A silence broken by the shouting of women, the games of children, the passing of some carts, or the call of street vendors, the knife grinder, the plate cleaner, the second-hand dealer.

When winter came, we gathered around the brazier burning their legs, the old people told stories of a distant past, of war, of bandits and fantastic figures, of witches, goblins, goblins and werewolves. When the fire was consumed we went to sleep to warm up.

Popular art, despite its simplicity, was the means that allowed humble people to express themselves and had a strong sentimental and emotional connotation, whereby sudden impulses and moods were translated into simple lines although not without a strong charge of lyricism.

Popular art was practiced by the shepherd and the farmer; by the craftsman and the housewife; as well as by the common people who loved, almost by instinct, to embellish the objects that were used for daily work and domestic life.
Just think of the sticks and collars of some animals that the shepherd adorned with motifs that recalled his beliefs and his environment; to the spoons, ladles and carved wooden stools that embellished modest homes; to the embroidery and lace which represented the main form of artistic expression of our grandmothers; to the copper objects with pleasant shapes that were hung on display in the kitchens: to the railings, finally, and to the iron railings that embellished the patriarchal houses. A few examples to remember how in the past people were inclined to express their personality and inner richness.

THE DRUM (Lu tamburrèdde)
It is the typical artisanal instrument, consisting of a wooden frame bent into a circle, onto which a suitably prepared kid or lamb skin is fixed. Hollows are made in the frame in which metal rattles with a diameter varying from three to four centimeters are placed, obtained from metal containers or bottle caps. Colored ribbons are applied along the frame, while the skin constitutes the striking surface of the hand for percussion. In the larger version it is known by the name of Tamborra.

THE CASTAGNOLE
They often resemble castanets and are called this because the best wood with which to build them is chestnut. The castagnola is made up of two pieces with a size ranging from two to five centimeters. While the external part is rounded, the internal part is hollow and acts as a sound box. The two parts are tied in pairs, with the hollow faces matching and fixed to the fingers of the hand in the external part of it, depending on the skill of the player, also in the internal part. The damselfish were distinguished into male and female and were of different sizes. The player held the largest one in his right hand and the smallest one in his left. This caused a different, darker sound in the larger one.

LU SCISCIULE
It is made up of two pieces of wood and is also called the poor man's violin, because it is played in a similar way to the well-known instrument. The two pieces have a size that varies from forty to fifty centimeters. The first is simple and has no particularity: it is held at one end with the hand, while the other end rests on the shoulder. The other piece is notched along one side, while on the opposite side there are metal rattles. The sound is produced by sliding the piece with the rattles onto the one resting on the shoulder.

LU ZIGHEDE-BÙ
Very widespread in the southern area, it is therefore very varied in construction. Sometimes a tin, clay or wooden container is used as a sounding board. The soundboard is made of suitably treated lambskin or goatskin. A wooden rod, usually cane or butcher's broom, is placed in the center. Depending on the size of the instrument, the sound is produced by rubbing the shaft with one or two hands, from top to bottom, mainly using the palms of them. The sound will be darker if you take care to periodically wet your hand with water or saliva. For larger ones, you can also use a sponge to rub them.

THE ARMÒNNECA
It is an accordion and has the characteristic of having few basses, from two to eight for the diatonic notes. It is a widely used instrument in Abruzzo and has spread throughout our territory thanks to transhumance.

THE RACANADDA
It is a wooden instrument, essentially composed of two nested pieces. The first, which also has a handle, ends with a toothed wheel, the other acts as a small sounding board, with a tongue, also made of wood, which is moved by the wheel, emitting a sound similar to the croaking of frogs.

Peasant poetry was all about genuine verses, of loving invocations, often grotesque, crude, but not without tender notes of kindness.

In their long solitude, among the foliage of the woods, the shepherds, the cowherds, the mares they sang sweet dirges; in the stables the farmers sang songs, a genuine expression, in their flashing brevity, of the soul, customs and habits of the Gargano; the peasant women with the dress raised on the hips and with the handkerchief folded on the head they sang love songs, in the midst of green meadows, during hoeing, weeding, hulling, grape harvesting and olive harvesting.

The most traditional musical forms of San Giovanni Rotondo belong to three types of tarantella, which take place in different keys and registers, a form of free singing, sonnet or extended singing, in a minor key, and a singing Capuane, also extended in a major key.

La Cerignulane, tarantella in major mode. The A and E chords are fingered in first position. The double chords present in the instrumental introduction are plucked by the index finger, while the thumb plays the last open string which acts as a drone. The voice starts upbeat on the first degree with a descending trend up to the sixth. On an essentially ternary rhythm of the beating guitar, the voice presents a binary figuration in the last beat of the bar.

La Muntanare, tarantella in a major way. Alternate between G and D seventh chords. The voice starts on the upbeat on the seventh degree and then moves to the tonic. The melody takes place within a minor ninth.

La Cannellèse includes two forms of tarantella in a minor way. A simpler form, which alternates the Tonic and Dominant chords, a second more complex one, which uses the pizzicato technique and a wider chordal succession. The vocal melody starts on the upbeat on the fifth degree and then moves to the tonic.

Il I sing at length Sunette o Leccesèdde it takes place in the key of D minor, and then modulates to its dominant. The player uses an elaborate pizzicato. The accompaniment becomes more regular with the beginning of the song, with the constant repetition of a rhythmic-melodic module, until the next instrumental section. The attack of the voice is anacrustic on the fourth degree.

"THE SONNETS"
They are songs accompanied by the beating guitar and have as content, amorous lyrical themesi. Their origin dates back to the Sicilian school and the jester tradition, whose forms spread widely in popular poetry. In the sonnets the performance of a soloist prevails who, very often, is the same player as the battente. Often the singers take turns engaging each other in a challenge both on the repertoire and on the improvisations.
During serenades, which always take place according to a well-defined ritual, the sonnet becomes a choral song."Purté lu sunette" you mean precisely bringing the serenade, according to a ritual that lasted a few hours and, sometimes, continued throughout the night. On these occasions, which underlined important moments in the cycle of life, the battente guitar was accompanied by the mandolin, and for the rhythmic part from the drum and the damselfish.

"THE TARANTELLA"
the tarantella performed in pairs, it's a courtship dance, in which the man, incited by the group and stimulated by the music, invites the chosen woman to the dance. The man dances and claps his hands to keep time, but the woman seems disinterested in the dance. When the man's pressure becomes unbearable, the woman too begins to dance, looking for a way to escape her pressing invitations. Thus begins the most dramatic phase of the tarantella. The woman runs away and is caught, pretending to accept the male's invitation to dance but, as soon as she glimpses a free space, she tries a new escape route; she is immediately chased by the man who chases her again, emitting shouts of encouragement to overcome her resistance. After several attempts, the woman finally accepts the invitation and thus begins the final part of the dance, frenetic and liberating.