It is now the heart of rice harvesting. The rainy season is nearing its end. The three month rice has been harvested and the five and six month are in progress. My community members are all hard at work to get it all done, being they are subsistence farmers. My gente have a very special way of planting and harvesting in large numbers. It’s called the junta.
Junta literally means meeting or council, but to them it’s much more. The premise is that if someone comes to your work event then you must return the favor, all based on the honor system. You don’t want your neighbors and family to think badly upon you! They call this pagar el peón or paying the laborer. If four members of one household come to my work day then I better send 4 of my household to their work day! Juntas can be a lot of fun but are hard work.
The host family shows up to the farm nice and early and makes sure everything is ready to go. The workers slowly trickle in around 9 or 10 o’clock. For harvesting rice each person bring their own little ax to cut the rice stalks. Once all have arrived, the row is complete as everyone works forward cutting down the rice until it’s done, gets to dark, or rains to hard for too long! Throughout the day the patrón or boss bring around a 5 gallon container filled with chicha de maíz or corn juice, with two large cups for everyone to chug out of! This way it’s food and drink in one and they can work all the way through without lunch. (It’s takes me more time to drink a half glass then they do a full one 🙈) Throughout the day, in Ngäbere (their native language) everyone shares gossip, stories, and laughter. Me only understanding bits and pieces, but getting a lot of a smiles and laughter when I make an occasional joke in Ngäbere or get stuck in some weeds. Even when I only understand half of what is going on, it’s a welcoming feeling working side by side with my people. I had a special moment when I dropped my little ax in the rice and once everyone realized what had happened, immediately 6 people around me start looking for my tool until it was found! No questions asked.
When the day comes to an end most everyone leaves with a smile and some yell/yodels of joy. Time for some free food! How else could you get people to work hard all day…? Back to the house of the boss, where food is ready (generally cooked all day by the woman of the house 😞). What I find so funny is there is a traditional after junta meal. First you get a really brothy soup flavored with something from a cheap packet and a root vegetable. You will normally find a little bit of chicken, killed from the patio that morning. Then each person gets a giant leaf filled with cooked rice to take home with them, known as a lonche. I know my cat loves these days because he also gets a little bit of chicken and a bunch of rice (due to their HUGE rice portions)🐈⬅️😃. This completes a junta but a lot of work lies ahead for the host family as they have to go through all the steps of preparing the rice! But that is basically a blog in its self!
Erin Storck 