Bread rituals

"On the outskirts of the village, the bakers piled up the heap of cereals (the "iosca"), together with straw, in the shape of a pyramid (the "meta"), and it was used to heat and bring the oven to the right temperature for a whole year. On the floor of the straw-fired oven there was an opening, called "lu' mbierno", into which sometimes a few loaves would fall. Each family marked its own bread with a stamp ("lu merco") to make it easily recognizable among all the loaves brought to the oven. The "tumbagno" (a wooden plane) was used, which could be square or rectangular, depending on whether it was needed for "schianà" (kneading, reducing into loaves to be baked) or for carrying, on the head, the "schenate" (the loaves) to the oven, where, after a second rise, when they had "fatt' faccia", they were baked. "Lu cingulo", a small piece of fresh dough, cylindrical in shape, baked near the fire, checked the leavening, which was due to the sourdough ("lu crescend'"). If it rose too much, the bread was "scresscendato". It was "ascemo", if made without yeast. The loaf given to the baker to barter for the baking of the bread was called "lu pezziddo". The one "soft and dented", all with tomato, with onion, cornmeal (di mais) or filled, was the "pezzedda". It was customary for a woman, returning home from the oven with the basket on her head, to invite acquaintances she met along the way to taste the hot bread. The customary well-wishing response to the offer was always: "Lassa cresce!" ("Let it grow!"). At the end of the day, "lu munnelo", a long wooden stick with a rag at one end, was used to "munnelà", that is, to clean the oven's work surface. Children were told that the baker, always very busy and short of water, would dip "lu munnelo" in her "pipì" (urine) to clean the oven surface, and so they often refused the bottom crust of the bread, shouting: "io nun boglio, quero andù piscia la furnara!" ("I don't want the one where the baker pisses!")”.