Vitsa, Zagori: Abandoned Threshing-Floors; Time for Restoration? Ta Alonia - τα εγκαταλελειμμένα μαρμαρένια αλώνια

It saddens me to see so many theshing-floors disappear, more and more each passing year. It's hard to recognise the three threshing-floors of Kato Vitsa any longer. The walls have almost completely crumbled, the stones re-used for other purposes.

The Aloni - the threshing-floor-  the "marble threshing-floor" - is such a potent symbol of Greek identity and poetry. Alas, no longer - when the need may be greatest. Restore the threshing-floors before it's too late! They should have been preserved as if Ancient Greek monuments. What an amazing performance space these three alonia would have made...

One day we may need to start traditional threshing again...
but first there would need to be a lot more local wheat production.
A return to agriculture and to the villages? In living memory of the older villagers, especially in times of hunger - the cultivation (on the flat fertile land not far below the villages) of wheat, barley, corn, lentils, chick peas, potatoes. Animal husbandry was always the main activity, sheep, goats, cattle, chickens - more important than other forms of agriculture.

See also: The Eternal Struggle on The Threshing Floor

Solomos' Best Line