STORAGE AND TRANSPORT VESSELS

 

The great variety of storage and transport vessels of the Cypriot rural household proves that in the recent past, people took great care in preserving and storing various types of foodstuffs, mainly own-produced via farming and stock raising.  These were carefully kept in house storage rooms or spaces, such as the ssospito, the tzellari or the sente, and were gradually consumed by the family throughout the year, thus ensuring its self-sufficient sustenance.

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Wine, olives, halloumi (a type of Cypriot white cheese), preserved meats, raisins, honey, flour and other products were kept in several types of clay jars, such as the koumna, the kourellos and the pitharia. Drinking water, only available at public fountains, was transferred back to the house using clay vessels of various types and shapes, such as kouzes and korypes. The same vessels were used for storing water inside the house, as well as transferring it to the work-places of farmers, herders and craftsmen.

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Other liquids, such as olive oil, wine and zivania (a traditional Cypriot distillate) were kept in damintzanes, narrow-necked glass bottles encased by a basket-weaved mesh. For the transfer of liquids into the damintzanes people usually used funnels strainers.

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Foodstuffs or raw farming products were temporarily stored and transferred using various types of cylindrical kalathkia (baskets) or tsestoi (flat baskets). The korokolios, yet another type of small basket, was mainly used by farmers and herders for the transfer of their lunch.