Doing the laundry was an event carried out only once or twice a year until the arrival of modern washing machines made the whole job simpler and easier.

In Siran, the washing was taken to the banks of the small river l'Ognon, a walk with a wheel barrow of about a kilometre from the village to the bridge where a small track on the left hand side of the present road lead down to the water. Each person had reserved her place the previous evening by placing a cloth by her favourite washing stone but sometimes this was not respected by others and disputes were not unknown.

At the river, the clothes were soaked and washed with soap, rubbed on large flat stones, rinsed and then trundled back home in the wheel barrow.

At home, the 'lessive' was prepared by wrapping ashes in a cloth of coarse weave the purpose of which was to retain the coarse particles. The wet clothes were carefully stacked and the cloth containing the ashes was placed on top of the heap. Water was poured onto the ashes and trickled down through the clothes. At the bottom, this water was collected and recycled several times through the stack of clothes.

The ashes contained potassium salts which were disolved by the water and which were the 'secret' active ingredient for bleaching the clothes. The ashes were obtained from the village baker and came from the wood he burned to heat his oven. He did not sell but rather gave the ashes to his regular customers. A way of obtaining and retaining their loyalty ?

After the bleaching, the barrow and its load was again trundled to the river where the clothes were rinsed before trundling back home. At home, they were draped over the bushes to dry and further bleach in the sun.

Small wonder that this process was not repeated every Monday morning.

Many villages, especially in the mountains, built wash houses (lavanderies) with large tubs filled with running water tapped from a nearby stream. Many examples of these can be seen in the villages of the Minervois and are referenced on the pages of the communes concerned. A few are still in occasional use.