In the time when wheat and barley were mown, there was no twine for binding sheaves. Then we went with carts to mow sedge, or cattail, which we would weave at home. Women and men wove ropes, and we called it “throwing ropes”. Mostly the reaper mowed, and the woman followed him and collected the swath into handfuls. As a child, I remember my dad waking me up as early as four in the morning, as soon as dawn broke, to mow the wheat in the cool air. I used to throw that rope woven from a sedge. The women collected the grain and tied the sheaves which were then stacked into a cross. The heaviest and largest sheaf placed on top was called popa (priest), as something very large. We had a couple of parish priests in the village, and then, it wasn’t really nice to say, but people used to say “this one will be for the priest”, as the biggest one.