Today, I want to write about the simple household task of doing laundry and arranging clothes to dry on our terrace. We do have a washing machine, so laundry is not done by hand. However, it is arranged manually on hangers and secured with clothespins. (We had a difficult time finding both hangers and clothespins. We found the hangers at Bodega Aurora and the clothespins at Abarrotes on 20 De Enero Street, where we go for fruits.)

Did you know that arranging clothes on hangers, pinning them down with clothespins, and placing them on the rod to dry almost feels like meditation? When I was young and still living in Georgia, hanging clothes was almost like a daily ritual; all housewives would take this task very seriously. Washed clothes had to be organized by color and size. It was easy to do in the summer, but not so easy during winter snow.

Did you know that clothes dried outside on a sunny day or in the cold winter air carry the smell of sun and snow?

Did you know that whites become even whiter when dried in the sun and/or snow?

I am doing my best to arrange clothes according to the old ritual from Georgia; I’m not sure how successful I am, but I’m trying.

In Georgia, clotheslines and hanging clothes were not only a ritual but also held superstitions. It was said that if you left baby clothes out at night, the baby would not sleep. Lord knows how many times I’ve jumped out of bed in the middle of the night to remove baby clothes from the clotheslines because I had forgotten about them earlier.

I don’t know how Georgians dry their clothes nowadays. I hope they still use clotheslines and arrange them by colors and sizes, but it has been a really long time since I lived in Georgia. To all you world travelers, do you know the answer?

I noticed similar clothesline rituals in places like Croatia and Venice. My sister laughed when she looked at my photos from these two countries. She knew why I was taking those photos. It saddens me to see that new homes in San Miguel de Allende have dryers! Why? There is absolutely no necessity or need for dryers here.

On a final note, laundry in Spanish is “lavandería.” It gives me associations with the color and smell of lavender.