The community oven: heart of hamlet life
🏘️ Community life
In the hamlets, the oven was the centre of community life, and its use fostered solidarity and exchange among people.
🔥 Rotas and firing
It was lit by families according to a set rota; being first was a disadvantage because a great amount of wood and time were needed to reach the right baking temperature.
👨🔧👩🍳 Roles
Men provided the wood and tended the oven, while women devoted themselves to making the bread.
📜 The annual ritual
At the beginning of November, the heads of households met in a cowshed, wrote their names on slips of paper, and a child drew lots to establish the baking order. Together they decided all arrangements – from the quantity of wood to bring to the number of baking rounds for each family, according to household size.
🤝 Sociability
It was a time of great sociability and an opportunity to be together, sharing opinions, stories and experiences.