Concepts

The dictionary meaning of ‘concept' is an idea of a class of objects ; general notion (eg. the concept of evolution). A New Year visit to neighbours, here in the foothills of the Pyrenees, has shown me that my concept of them has been false.

I had a concept of farms and farmers as being static, fixed, that they had occupied their land for generations, never moved... . It was a ' townies' view, although I've lived with my neighbours for more than 30 years. Talking over coffee and Christmas torró I heard that out of five homesteads, only one of the families had lived there for more than 75 years, but the other masovers ( tenant farmers), who were subject to contract, had lived there for only 24 years or less.

Fifty years ago, winter in the rural areas could be far from idyllic, especially for tenant farmers. They normally had a one-year contract, and they would know by August if they had to leave by the November 1. If they had not left by then, they were either asked to leave through the door, or were thrown out through the ‘window' on the December 31, ‘Sant Silvestre'. A common Catalan saying is: “Per Sant Silvestre, o per la porta o per la finestra!” Most of my neighbours were not owners but masovers. Some had bought their farms after some years from the owners, who generally lived in Vic, Olot or Barcelona. This knowledge did not spoil the friendliness and welcome of the visits; the conversation continued about family, weather, and crops for February...

Yet it did make me open my mind to accept new facts. Therefore, if my concept of something so close to home about my neighbours is mistaken, so that it appears that things are not, in many cases, what they appear to be, how many other wrong concepts in this New Year might we have that could be false? Our concepts seem worth investigating!