Barns and other farm outbuildings covered with thatched roofs have always been a distinctive characteristic of the villages of Hafling/Avelengo and Vöran/Verano.
A few examples of this archaic architectural construction can still be seen while hiking, including at the Spitzegger Farmstead in Vöran and at Gfrar in Aschl/Eschio.
Mounting thatched roofs such as these requires a lot of work and skill on the part of the Strohdecker, or roofer. The Strohdecker must bind the straw—usually rye but wheat is also used—on mild winter days into bundles about the diameter of an arm, called Dachschab. A piece of the roof is repaired every year; in this way, the whole layer of straw is completely replaced every twenty years or so.
As Richard Furggler wrote in his compendium entitled Tschögglberg: "The most striking feature of the folkloristic peculiarities of high plateau is—actually, one must almost say ‘was’—the majestic thatched roofs on the farm buildings."
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