A woman winnowing. She is wearing village-style clothing, including long trousers in white cotton with embroidered trouser-legs, multi-color hand knitted woollen stockings and an old green silk ‘üçetek’ (a robe with three panels: one wide at the backside, and two smaller in front).
To the left (against the wall) stands a ‘çoğal’: a bag used for storing the grain after winnowing. In villages that were involved in weaving, these bags are not made of plain fabric, but of decorative flat-woven textiles; this particular ‘çoğal’ was made in so-called ‘cicim’-technique (pronounce: jijim).
Wind winnowing is an agricultural method developed by ancient cultures for separating grain from chaff. It is also used to remove weevils or other pests from stored grain. Threshing, the loosening of grain or seeds from the husks and straw, is the step in the chaff-removal process that comes before winnowing.
In its simplest form it involves throwing the mixture into the air so that the wind blows away the lighter chaff, while the heavier grains fall back down for recovery. It is normally an outdoor activity.
Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen.
Sources: The Kavak Collection of Anatolian Costumes, Antwerpen/Belgium & Wikipedia.