Harvest Traditions: New World

Such traditions as have evolved around the harvest, or crush, in the New World tend to be the direct result of having large numbers of people, often from very different backgrounds, doing work unfamiliar to many of them, in the open air. The weather conditions, especially the temperature and sunshine, have greatest effect on worker comfort, and indirectly on the development of traditions. In many parts of the New World, harvest can be a time of heavy physical work for moderately low pay under trying conditions. Where the weather is hot, the harvest can start very early in the morning, and meal breaks are short as there is often little opportunity to relax in a hot, dusty, vineyard with little available shade.