What does a traditional kitchen look like?

[This](https://imgur.com/KDQZAVi) is a Galician traditional kitchen, called a lareira. The cauldron is a pote or caldeiro. The chain and hook to which it is attached is a gramalleira/camalleira, gamalleira/preganza, depending on dialect.

Apparently when giving birth some people used to do it squatting, holding onto this chain, but I think most people gave birth in the bed. The rotating post to which the chain is attached, unless it is hanging directly from the ceiling, is called the guindastre. That’s so you can easily take the pot out of the flame.

Next to the lareira is a place where the wood to be burned is stored, called a fornalha/requeixo/ anllar/unllar/ullar/inllar (this last one ultimately from Latin angulum, meaning corner) depending on the dialect. The wood that you throw into the fire has different names depending on dialect and size. Estelas, achas and rachas are smaller pieces, rachóns are large pieces.

The cauldrons or pots can also be put into the fire over a tripod, called a trespés/trepia/tripio/estrépia depending on dialect.

Over the lareira you can find the canizo/caínzo/cambeiro/fumizo which is a roof made out of sticks where you put chestnuts or meats so that they are dried via the smoke. See [this](https://imgur.com/847ieHq) picture. It’s the roof that’s made out of sticks, you’d put the chestnuts there.

In some parts of Galicia, they build a dedicated building for this role, called a sequeiro and the chestnuts are dried over a latticework of sticks called caniceiras. It takes between 8-15 days, and you have to watch over it day and night to take the dry ones out and put new ones in (these chestnuts are later eaten, after removing their shells, with milk or in a soup or with meat).

The stone roof of the lareira, if there is one, is called the cambota and you can also use it to smoke meats. In [this](https://imgur.com/w3TDNbV) picture you can see a lareira, underneath the cambota.

The back part of the lareira where the completely burnt ash is left and accumulated is called the parrumeira (also, curiously enough, a term for the female genitalia) or the borralheira (also, curiously enough, a term for the rain in some dialects).

The floor used to be compacted earth but could also be made out of smooth pebbles and stones (from rivers for example), called caios.

Some of these lareiras in modern times have been converted into mere fireplaces, some have been restored and are in full function, but in the last few decades (since the 80s), you even see a repartition of roles in rural Galicia. Some houses have three kitchens, the old lareira to make traditional food, the daily used kitchen (gas/carbon/electric) and a fancy one for inviting guests over.

The lareira was the most important part of the house, and it was where families gathered to eat, read and have leisure time. It was the part of the house where people spent most of their free time. For a long time to count the families living in a town or city, they didn’t count the inhabitants, they counted the lareiras.