Photograph of an agricultural scene no. 047

Photograph of a group of people, men, women and children, in the fields with a harvesting machine. The names recorded are: Yorgozlu Ömer, Mehmet Patariyacı, Keziban, Derviş Ahmet, Havva Kavaz, Hasan Damdelen (father of Aziz Damdelen), B. Mehmet, kızı (daughter) Sultan Keziban, Hacı Ali, B. Hasan, Halide Süleyman, Adem uzun Hasan. The photograph was taken in 1946, as noted on its upper part. It was the harvest time for barley, which usually started by mid-April. The fields with the ripe crop extend far back in the distance, where the Keryneia mountain range is to be seen. All persons form a group around and on a harvesting machine; it is of the earliest type, which was drawn by a pair of oxen. The wooden yoke tied onto the protruding shaft with a thick cord made from oxhide thongs plaited together (lourikós in Greek Cypriot), is clearly visible. In the course of harvesting, women and children used to bind the cut corn into sheaves, which were then stacked up in ricks. Several ricks are to be seen on the field in the background; there are also a couple of bound sheaves lying on the field in the foreground, and another one is held by a woman who stands in front of the oxen. She seems to wear trousers under a long white overcoat, and her head is covered with a black veil (çarşaf). At the extreme right of the photograph stands a young boy dressed with knee-length trousers and a white shirt; he holds in his arms a baby with a white skullcap. Next to the boy stand three young girls wearing working clothes and headscarves (yemeni), also leather peasant boots made for women; there is one more woman behind the harvesting machine, wearing a white headscarf with ends tied under her chin. The males of the group, one boy and three men, are on the machine. The man sitting in front wears a white shirt, long trousers and boots; the man behind him is similarly dressed; both wear the same type of white headscarf that could cover the ears (TCy: kulak çapıdı). The young man at the back wears a hat. Village Kioneli (Gönyeli), Nicosia District.