Saturday, September 18, 2010

Heritage celebration

Yes well I couldn't stay away.....
Today we went to the annual heritage fair, a celebration of the culture of this region. And what a rich heritage these mountains indeed hold. All the things that I love, although these days I do not practice many as I would like, yet natural dying, wood carving, basket weaving, broom making, spinning, beekeeping and so much more, all areas which I hope to dwell more into once we are settled into a home of our own again. As for today, there was lots of insightful experiences, I learned a lot and the children too  were inspired. I find these kinds of authentic fairs so rewarding, so much folklore so much history, a wonderful mixture of the old and as it turns out what we are once again turning towards, age old proven techniques and wholesome practices, good for us and good for the earth.. 
We started at the beginning, watching as a spring lamb had its first shearing. the farmer told us lots of interesting facts about sheep, and to my surprise kept the attention of the children. One particular fact that I did not realize was that domesticated sheep have over  the years had their shedding ability bread out of them, and their fleece would continue to grow if not sheared by we the humans, also that they will always seek higher ground if they were to be free, and that a sheep on its own would be quite lost because they need the herd to feel safe
The farmer told us lots of interesting facts about sheep, and to my surprise kept the attention of the children. One particular fact that I did not realize was that domesticated sheep have over  the years had their shedding ability bread out of them, and their fleece would continue to grow if not sheared by we the humans, also that they will always seek higher ground if they were to be free, and that a sheep on its own would be quite lost because they need the herd to feel safe
Then on to the natural dying of  wool, something of special interest to me as I am very much looking forward to fill my garden with plants for natural dying
Throughout the day we kept returning to watch this whole process take place, first the mordanting;
Then she prepared the dye, cutting the goldenrod flowers and simmering them in water for about an hour
Then removing the flowers, (usually she would have strained more thoroughly she said)
and then adding the yarn, the children really enjoyed this part of the process, she left it in simmering, never boiling, for about an hour, we did not see the finished product...
but we did see plenty of her other naturally dyed yarns, and the whole process is for me now much simplified
The children got to watch as these beautiful brooms were made, and also make a small one for themselves
The weaving of the handles is exactly as we made out lavender wands, which was neat to realize 
This was another table of great interest to me, not that I imagine I will be processing flax into linen any day soon, yet how fascinating (for me anyways) to watch as they turned flax straw into fiber then spinning it into string and then weave it into cloth, just like the wool of the sheep 
another table of great interest for the children, perhaps what fascinated them the most was the wood carvers, they had set it up in such a way that the children got a real understanding of how the figures were fashioned from the raw wood, Kaleena came home and drew a mermaid on a piece of wood intending to carve it with her pocket knife (she uses extreme caution and care when using her knife)  
ahh yes and the whimmy diddle, an old-fashioned toy originating in these mountains, a simple wooden stick with a few grooves and a propellor loosely attached with a nail, with a second stick you then rub up and down the stick to make the propellor go first one way and then the other 
they really enjoyed this simple little toy
and one last thing worth a mention, well there were many more, but this post already being so long I will leave it at this bag, made from the green bark of the tulip poplar tree, abundant in these parts..
and just before we went home we enjoyed a lively clogging show. Clogging is big in these parts and as it happens this type of dancing is recommended in the Waldorf curriculum, so it seems we may all soon be clogging together
A lovely day spent in the shade of the trees in these blue ridge mountains
~Thanks for looking in, and a lovely evening to you~

9 comments:

  1. oh my, this makes me miss those mountain of NC! This looks like a WONDERFUL event!

    ReplyDelete
  2. wow, i would have loved to go to this, I realy want to have a go at plant dying and those woden pieces look amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You must have had a most wonderful day! To be able to watch and participate in some of the processes would be a delight, your photos are so wonderful.....

    Have a beautiful day. xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. This looks like so much fun. We have a traditional German festival next weekend in our town. Similar concept, very different activities! These types of festivals are just such great experiences.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ah, I was wondering what a whimmy diddle was as soon as I saw your first photo and now I realize they are something that both my boys have carved. I think they call them something else though.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh what a lovely day! I wish we had a festival like that up here *sigh*! Gotta teach myself how to spin, and then I'll start my own darn festival!!!
    xo maureen

    ReplyDelete
  7. How wonderful to see how all of these items were made. Thank you for sharing such vivid photos!

    ReplyDelete
  8. A beautiful post Christina, I hope to find some of these intimate festivals in California. The little brooms are too cute. Sania made one the other day from Pine needles!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have friends in NC, come to think of it. So pleased to make your acquaintance. I have also made the acquaintance of some wonderful broom makers here locally. I visited their home and saw the marvelous art brooms that stay at home on their own walls - one in the fantastical shape of a peacock - branches of wood are so fascinating. And how high those cloggers got! We have fairs like this here, too - but our colonization of the desert is not is deep in years as your history there in the Blue Ridge, and we are a constantly changing population, rather than one that has stayed and passed along the skills and traditions of older times. I believe you have much Scottish influence in those mountains - a brae rare and useful heritage.

    Anyway, we don't have the depth of craft tradition you do, I'm afraid. What we do have, we love to see.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for stopping by, I love to know you were here and enjoy comments so much.
Blessings.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.