What would you consider the most important aspect of pastoral tradition?

[Fouli Papageorgiou]

Europe has a rich history of traditions and heritage relating to pastoral life. Some of these are shared among several European countries while others are unique to a country or region. What would you consider the most important or interesting aspects of pastoral tradition? We are interested in academic, historic and personal experiences of our members.

[Raúl de Arriba]

Hello,

one of the most interesting aspects of the pastoral tradition has to do with the economic importance that sheep farming has had in the peripheral, mountainous or isolated rural areas. Moreover, traditionally, this type of farming has developed with high degree of respect with the environment.

Regards,

Raúl

[Demetris Mylonas]

Pastoral architecture! As far as I'm concerned, one of the most interesting aspects of pastoral tradition, although it doesn't come to mind when one hears of "pastoral tradition". Even architects at the sound of "pastoral architecture" open their eyes in surprise that such a thing actually exists. And still, there are special features of pastoral architecture that make it quite interesting, especially the traditional architecture: spontaneous solutions and clever use of materials and techniques create structures to battle weather conditions and accomodate the needs of the farmer-shepherd. Even more interesting is the fact that these features appear in all the European countries studied here, no matter how different the climate conditions or the historical background might me in each of them. The inventory at the CANEPAL site (http://data.prismanet.gr/canepal/search_form.php) is full of examples demonstrating exactly these features.

I recommend you take a look.