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North Africa

Tunisian septuagenarian keeps ancient harvest traditions alive in the countryside

Sunday, 16 August 2026, 06:29 · 1 min read

Mohammed Mbrouk al-Qassab, a 74-year-old farmer and folk poet from rural Tunisia, continues to harvest wheat each season using a hand sickle, a net, and a camel to carry grain to the "mandara" (the traditional threshing ground), rejecting modern machinery in favour of methods passed down from his father. For roughly 25 years he has participated in the Mandara Festival, whose latest edition carried the theme "Memory of the Land," demonstrating tools such as stone mills, wooden winnowing forks, and draught animals to crowds who might otherwise never encounter them. Beyond the fieldwork, al-Qassab says he has memorised around 380 folk songs and 835 traditional riddles, viewing the preservation of oral culture as inseparable from keeping the old agricultural practices alive.

Sources
Al Jazeera Arabicبعربته ودابته.. سبعيني تونسي يحفظ طقوس الحصاد في البادية ↗︎
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