Md. Ekram Hossein

Woodwork (WDW)

Dey is a foot-operated tool for pounding rice into flour. The rice flour produced by a dey is used to make fira, traditional Rohingya rice cakes typically eaten in the harvest season. A dey consists of a heavy wooden lever that swings up and down like a seesaw on a central wooden pedestal. On one end, a vertical wooden cylinder acts as a pestle, grinding the rice placed below in a wooden mortar. Dey is foot-operated by two or three people (usually women) stepping together in tandem. Once an important part of village life, dey is becoming obsolete due to the availability of less labour-intensive new technology. Pictured is a model of a dey.