We are in San Juan de Plan, a small Pyrenean town in the Chistau valley. Autumn has already arrived and the first snows have fallen on the high peaks. Although the river Cinqueta falls cold and brave, announcing the winter that is coming, the days are peaceful and the sun cheers them with its light and heat. These pleasant days have always been the best for doing autumn laundry, that is, for washing all those linen, hemp, cotton or wool garments that during the summer have gotten dirty at home or during hard work in the fields. Currently the fabrics used are less heavy than those of yesteryear and washing machines have replaced that hard manual work. But some women from San Juan have decided to do a laundry in the river as in other times.The donkey is loaded with all the dirty clothes that the women have to wash, they go down to the river, where they will carry out the first part of this hard and long process, which they call "wetting the clothes." Before starting, the women prepare some stones on the bank of the river which they call lavaderas. Few are the tools that are needed for this job: the wooden bench that protects them from the water, the baskets to carry the clothes, the paddles to beat them and the soap made with greasy household waste and soda. Through blows, shovels and scrubs with soap on wet clothes, women manage to remove the most superficial dirt, withstanding the low temperature of the water. Hard strokes with the shovel, strong shaking of the clothes in the water and energetic soaps under the sun, accompany the jokes and conversations that are almost muffled by the constant noise of the river in its descent. When you take the clothes out of the water, they do not completely rinse them, but leave them with some soap so that it acts with more force at the time of passing them through the thread. While some women are still in the river wetting their clothes, Alfredo and Tía Serena have gone to one of the mountain threshes to collect some bundles of firewood that will be needed in the subsequent laundry processes. The "pitigueras" replace the ropes to tie the bundles made with twig. The subsistence economy of these mountains has made their inhabitants take advantage of everything that nature offered them, and therefore, with some branches of "bucho" they prepare a broom. Carrying the donkey, Alfredo and Tía Serena return to the river with the firewood where the rest of the women will have already finished wetting the laundry. The women carry all the clothes soaked in soap and water onto the donkey. His weight has increased, but the donkey still has the strength to climb the steep streets of the town. The wet clothes are already unloaded in the house. For the next process, a lot of water and fire will be needed , so the women of San Juan must provide themselves with these elements before “washing the laundry”. To "pass the laundry", the women have gathered in the kitchen of one of the houses. While Alfredo prepares the fire, Maruja and Adolfina begin to put the soaked clothes in the “roscadé”. The clothes must be put neatly and evenly in the "thread" so that the water penetrates well between all its fibers. A cloth called "cenisé" covers all the clothes. On it, while the water is heated , the women pour the ash they have been keeping at home for this occasion. The time has come to "pass the laundry". While some women prepare the food, Maruja starts pouring hot water over the ash with the urinal. The water picks up the flavor of the ash and slowly penetrates the soap-soaked fabrics; This tour will still take time that these people of San Juan are going to dedicate to food. The "roscadé" is a wooden, ceramic or metal container that is placed on a "wooden basin" that leads the liquid to a bucket. A good hot broth and grilled meat as is usually done in these mountainous lands is the food for today. While the women were eating, the water has flowed out through the hole in the “roscadé” and has been collected in the bathtub. But now, this hot water that has taken on the flavor of the ash and soap that the clothes were wearing, has become “lisiva”, a product with great cleaning power. During approximately three hours, the hot “lisiva” will pass from the cauldron to the ash and the one that falls in the bucket to the cauldron, enriching themselves in this process. One of the uses that was given to the "lisiva" was to wash dishes. The day the laundry was done, it was used to leave all the ceramic, glass, wood and metal pieces that were in the house very clean . “Well, to wash all the dishes, the sideboards that were made of wood, the glasses and bottles and all the glass, it is rinsed well and is very shiny with this water. And this as it takes the soap and the water of the ash, because it remains very shiny. And the clothes of the shepherds washed morning, "" The lisiva and ash. While no bleaches or powders of any kind. And sometimes threw some vinegar to scrub and cast vinegar and hung soap, home and then to scrub. I have scrubbed more with what than with now, now. Anita and Maruja clean all the grease and soot that has been stuck to the kitchen furniture , including the small wooden amulet protector of the house. "Well, this little wood was made by men who were very diligent in the evenings, in winter when it was so long and they blessed it, it was like an evil spirit, so that the evil spirits would not come down , a blessed tree, so that evil spirits will not come down the chimney, in the form of a person. There were no witches . Bad art. There has been time that has given a lot to witches, and witches, no. What there have been people with many powers as are the healers who heal you without medicine, these things have been the same. and they say you have to break your leg, because you break your leg. " The "lisiva" is already taking on that reddish color that indicates that the process of "passing the laundry" is coming to an end. The kitchen environment is becoming impregnated with that clean smell that this liquid leaves. Although the "lisiva" The leftover was kept in containers to be used for cleaning and personal hygiene, Josefina prefers this moment of the laundry to wash her head. She has already finished the process of “passing the laundry.” Throughout the night the women of San Juan will let them the "lisiva" continue seeping through the clothes to be collected in the bucket with all its detergency women initiate the second round of the casting collecting in buckets or tubs the "lisiva" that used to wash the clothes of the shepherds and wool. The ash from the laundry is a good fertilizer for the garden that these women have never wasted. Aunt Serena and Maruja begin to remove the clothes from the roscadé to lower them back to the Cinqueta River. On a first trip, Maruja puts the cauldron on her shoulder from copper and Adolfina lowers the "bench" and the head. The donkey has been loaded with the wooden bastions and the iron “stones” to place the cauldron on the fire. On the second trip, they bring the clothes and everything they need to do the next laundry process , which they call “el engrespau”. Near the river, these women from San Juan de Plan prepare on one side the well-shod wooden bastions on the stones, and on the other the bonfire with the cauldron to heat the water. Anita and Josefina begin "the engrespau" of the clothes, which consists of removing the "lisiva" that has remained in the fiber. For this process you need hot water and homemade soap. Once again you have to apply soap to the clothes, rub them with your hands and give them vigorous shovels. It's a tough job these women are very used to. "The truth is, it lasts, but since our bones have already been tamed since we were little, this is like going to a festival" The clothes that have become "thick" in the baciones, Maruja and Adolfina take them down again to the river bank to rinse under running water. on the river again happen blows with a shovel and shakes the garments in water. Adolfina and Maruja have to do a lot of strength to move heavy fabrics that have already been thoroughly cleaned. When the garments are well rinsed, twist them to remove all the water they can and thus they need less time to dry. Maruja and Adolfina tend all the washed clothes on some sunny stones. And they know very well that, to make the clothes more bleached You have to spread it out in the sun. "This is already murga, it's already working, because this is also a bit strong, a bit rough. Despite the harshness of this work, Tía Serena does not lack the strength to remember jacks and related romances with the laundry. "Fourteen ca I have masses and fifteen with the thin one, the one who marries me will no longer lack laundry. " "I cross rivers, I cross bridges, I always find you washing. The beauty of your face, the water is taking it away." This wash day is also used to wash some fleeces. For this, Maruja leaves soaked in hot water for one hour. This embroidery is cotton hemp, is a sheet of hemp did before In the casting, the The women of San Juan wash all kinds of garments, including those with more delicate colored garments than the fabric itself.When the wool has released the grease and dirt, they take it down to the river to wash it as if it were another garment. All the clothes are now "packed" and rinsed. From this moment on, the work will be done by the sun. It is a matter of waiting. While they wait for the sun to act on the garments to dry and bleach them, Alfredo and these women from San Juan de Plan they will rest and eat. Broth, chiretas, stew meat, sausage, well seasoned stews and good drinks of wine will replenish the energy consumed throughout the morning. Until the sun loses its strength and stops heating the clothes, women s wait by the river bank. After eating, and with the laundry finished, they collect all the tackle they have used. The cleaning power of the ash from the campfire is used by Anita to clean the soot from the cauldron. Once again the donkey has to work to carry the potions, the “strews” and the excess firewood to the house. When the sun begins to set and lose its strength, the clothes are almost dry and ready to fold; but for this it is very important that the garments are not completely dry. but it is very important to fold it wet so that it is ironed, and it is put on top of a table all in a pile. If it is folded well, it is already well folded, if it is folded badly, it is already badly folded. " The clothes in the house have already been completely clean. Until a very few years ago, this was the only way for the inhabitants of the Chistau Valley and other Pyrenean areas to clean all the clothes that had gotten dirty during the winter in spring , and in autumn those that had been used in their work. summer of the field. The day the sheets were changed on the beds or when the family members changed their shirts to go to church the Sunday after the laundry, that clean scent of the “lisiva” was discovered. These images have already disappeared from the banks of our rivers. How many secrets, jokes and romances told on its shores will have been carried by the sound of the waters in their tortuous flow, until they die pushed by the new society that is imposing itself.
