Through the Archives: Flax and Hemp in Rural Luxembourgish Moselle

Show & Culture

In the rural Luxembourgish Moselle region, everyday life in the 18th and 19th centuries was shaped by self-sufficiency. Residents produced their food and most everyday items themselves, combining inherited knowledge with craftsmanship and tools that are now largely forgotten. Drawing on historical documents from the Moselle region archives, Adeline Karcher will present the role and importance of two key crops – flax and hemp – in the rural economy of the Luxembourg Moselle area. She will place them in the context of daily work and routines of the population at the time, from their uses for animal feed and oil production to textile fiber processing. The conference will be followed by a discussion with the audience and is an opportunity to (re)discover old manuscripts reflecting everyday life in the past.