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Posted by: Stephanie Hall
In 2014 I wrote a blog for Folklife Today called, “From Snowballs to Sculptures: Material Culture that Melts.” It dealt with several kinds of traditional uses of snow as a construction material and as a projectile for snowball fights. I came across one type of snow sculpture that I didn’t know very much about, so …
Posted in: Asian American History, Material Culture, Narratives, Storytelling
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
A celebration of fathers and fatherhood took a long time to be established as a nation-wide observance. Mother’s Day was being locally observed as it was being promoted in the 19th and early 20th century, and became a regular holiday in May in 1914 by presidential proclamation. Father’s Day was locally celebrated around the country …
Posted in: African Americans, Cuban Americans, Father's Day, Folksong, Hispanic American History, Irish Americans, Narratives, Native American History, Storytelling
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
Note: This is part of a series of blog posts about the 40th Anniversary Year of the American Folklife Center. Visit this link to see them all! The American Folklife Center was established in 1976. Two years later, in 1978, the folk music and song collections housed in the Music Division as the Archive of …
Posted in: AFC 40th Anniversary, African Americans, Narratives, Storytelling
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
March 20 is World Storytelling Day. Tying storytelling with the equinox in March is thought to have originated in Sweden as Alla berättares dag (all storytellers day) in 1991 or 1992. Other countries joined to celebrate storytelling on the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere and the first day of autumn in the …
Posted in: African Americans, Jewish American History, Jewish Americans, Narratives, Native American History, Storytelling
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
As some of our readers may remember, tomorrow is the second anniversary of Folklife Today, and our very first post was about Halloween. Last year, we did a series of posts about collecting Halloween and Day of the Dead photos through a special hashtag. You can see some of the results here and here and …
Posted in: Folksong, Halloween, Halloween Stories, Hispanic American History, Holidays, Narratives, Native American History, Storytelling
Posted by: Stephanie Hall
My mother did not like the taste of game, and wouldn’t cook it. To her wild meat recalled childhood poverty, when her father was short of work and so would pick up his rifle and go into the Maine woods to hunt. As an adult I had opportunities to try several kinds of wildfowl prepared …
Posted in: Animals, Foodways, Hunting, Mary Hufford, Narratives, Storytelling