Xha lî Xha (Village Co-operation)

'Xha lî Xha' — literally 'one to the other' — is a deeply-rooted village tradition of voluntary co-operation in tasks too large for one family: building a house, harvesting wheat, pressing grapes, gathering firewood for winter. The whole village converges on the needy family's land — the men labour in the field, the women cook for everyone, the children carry water. No wages are paid: the help is mutual. Today you help me, tomorrow I help you. Modernity has weakened the custom in large cities, but it remains alive in the villages of Iraqi and Iranian Kurdistan and in the Mardin and Siirt countryside of Turkey.