Division of Duties

            The duties of women included cooking and baking bread, spinning, washing, taking care of animals, taking care of the house and caring for children. Usually they sewed clothes themselves.

The richer farmer often had a farmhand to help the farmer with his work. There was also a wench who did light work for the hostess: milling in querns, mashing millet and cleaning in the cottage. Another assistant was an apprentice, which he was doing together with the farmhand and additionally he was supposed to chop wood for firewood and feed the horses. There was also a shepherd who grazed cattle in the summer, and in winter he helped with its dressing, grinding and mashing groats.

            If the hosts did not have such help, they had to do everything themselves. Of course, children and the elderly helped with the work.

            The children grazed cows and geese, the men did field work, felling trees, or heavier work, such as threshing, chopping firewood. Additionally, each farmer himself did most of the carpentry and carpentry work. The rest was done by specialized craftsmen, such as shoemakers, potters, and blacksmiths.

SOURCE:

„Źródła kultury ludowej Puszczy Sandomierskiej” edited by Krzysztof Ruszel, Kolbuszowa 2014.

Franciszek Kotula, „Z Sandomierskiej Puszczy”, Kraków 1962.

Ruszel K., Leksykon kultury ludowej w Rzeszowskiem, Rzeszów 2004