Walking from home Washing Organizing the drying

CLEANING
Hard work
Casa Chambrun, Siresa
© David Rodríguez
Casa Chambrun, Siresa
© David Rodríguez
© Mª Carmen Carreño
Ricardo Compairé. Fototeca, DPH
Walking from home
Loaded with zinc buckets full of clothes, the washing box (la tajuela), l
the hitting paddle (la feriduela), the washboard, the kids... and the intention
to spend most of the day.
“For in buckets, we carried buckets (cubos) of iron… no, not iron, of…,
aluminium. There were a few buckets like…, giant, and then there were
(…). When the clothes were unwashed, we would carry it in heaps….”,
14 * Francisco (Casa Escuré)
“But on washing day, we didn’t do anything else, waiting…”
15
*Teresa (Casa Labordeta)
they put a pillow and on the pillow they knelt, but they would be there
so long, washing the sheets that now they wash…, (…) the bed sheets
were linen, a kind of hemp…, some big sheets. For it was all based on…
based on rubbing”.
16 * Francisco (Casa Escuré)
“With a box in the Siresa called the tajuela and in fact, they called it
the caxon de lavar(…)”
17
*Hija de Teresa (Casa Labordeta)
“There was… there was a table and then they use it so that they don’t
get the edges wet.
And there they used a pillow or… something?
“They took the best that they had, the tajuela que se diciba. La
tabla de…una cosa pa las rodillas, pa meter las rodillas, la tajuela, The
washboard…one thing for the knees, in order to kneel, the tajuela, there
If on their knees. And also so they could rest…, not like that… it wasn’t
like that… you know?... that… it was for a little…. Support. To support
them”.
Washing
Rinsing
Soak the clothes, lather with homemade soap, scrub and set to the
side next to the soap so the soap can take effect.
“The soap and nothing, we spread the clothes and soaked them
thoroughly with the soap and rubbed it, then after the rinsing, we put it in
the sun…, if it was very dirty, in the sun… ”.
Spin, remove from the wash and hit with the paddle (la feriduela)
“What else, (…). For the washing, as in washing clothes, right? First…
you wet it, you wash it, you leave it…, (…) all that stuff piled and it would…
it would… be cleaning, softening”.
19
*Evarista (Casa Popolin)
18 * Evarista (Casa Popolín)
21 * Micaela (Casa Bautista)
Tending
It was spread outside, in the fields or grasslands, held with stones if
it was windy. They didn’t use clotheslines or pins like we do now.
Organizing the drying in the sun
-“You hoped that it would be a nice day with sunshine and you put it
in the sun and you didn’t leave it (Abandon it) (…) In the meadows and all
around…
-They spread out…
“Towards the meadows, towards the brambles, that were there, you
know? And there we spread out, we spread it out. Oy! In everything the
girls have changed things. But I think this is best girls, right? (she laughs)
I don’t know. I remember everything till now, talking about it. Yes, the
things we have seen… ”.
22 * Micaela (Casa Bautista)
-Yes, over there, and… with soap… Maybe a little bleach too. Well, we
sprayed a little water with soap and bleach, and it was very white. Very
white
20
*Teresa. (Casa Labordeta)
“I remember that washing that would tend towards the sun with a
few buckets, a few buckets (…) Also, now, it’s not there any longer, there
aren’t. In the same house or outside, like now”.
“In the same house or outside (…) like now. On clotheslines that
hung. Some in the same walls they hung there on…, in the same area if
not the same walls, there we hung the clothes”.
23
*Francisco (Casa Escuré)
Returning home
Loaded with clean clothes and tools used for work.
At home
To review, ironing, folding it carefully and keeping it in the ark.This
part is done by the housewives, but not the washerwomen, who, bent
over the washboards, left the work of ironing for them.
A perfect job
Ricardo Compairé. Fototeca, DPH
The end result was a perfect job, because it was manual and natural,
using clear water in the stream or laundry, and even the soap was
handcrafted, a product of recycling and home work.
Ricardo Compairé. Fototeca, DPH
Ricardo Compairé. Fototeca, DPH
Ricardo Compairé. Fototeca, DPH