KOSSHINO

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An important category of kitchenware of the Cypriot maerkon (kitchen) were the kosshina (sieves), which were predominantly used for sorting legumes and seeds, and for sifting flour. Kosshina always had a circular shape and were comprised of the ilarin (annular wooden frame), where leather, cloth or tenekes (thin sheet metal) was fastened. These items were mostly manufactured locally by the manties (tinkers). There were at least four major types of kosshina, which differed in form per their function:

• Arvalin or arkon was a sieve with rather large holes. This sieve was made of sheep’s skin or tenekes (thin sheet metal) and was used for the sorting of the collected wheat, barley or other larger seeds from various impurities (stones, etc.). The size of the sieve’s holes depended on the type of seeds being sorted.

• Patourin was a sieve with small holes, made of sheep’s skin or more often tenekes (thin sheet metal) and was used for a variety of tasks, such as sorting legumes, for the asprisman of sesame (double sieving to increase whiteness) and the kouliasman (draining) of sarza (tomato paste). Often, in sieves of this type the holes were arranged to form symbolic decorative motifs, such as crosses or rosettes.

• Sita or tatsia was a sieve made of leather at the edges and thin silky cloth at the centre, which was used exclusively for the separation of the flour from the roughage.

• The tampoutsia was a sieve made of sheep’s skin without holes and was used to collect the sifted flour and for various other agricultural work. Also, it was used as a musical instrument, a form of tambourine!