The threshing of the Pimbulos, an agricultural rite in agony

Abstract

The “Pimbulos”, indigenous ecuadorian people exclusively linked to agriculture, preserve certain cultural manifestations which they revive at the time of cultivating the land, planted their grains and tubers, but especially during harvests, as a recognition
to God, to nature and to his work. “Threshing” represents a quasi-sacred event, in which
rituals, characters, ancestral knowledge, solidarity between neighbors and reciprocity with mother earth arise.
Unfortunately, this spontaneous and simple ritual, traditional and rich in simbols, signs and meanings, is in clear danger of disappearing due to the acculturation of thought, globalization and new technologies. This article tries to at least register this ritual using the same tipycal terminology (*) that the “threshers” of Pimbulo still use to express themselves.