Appalachian History

Ring out the old Ring in the new Ring out the false Ring in the true. New calendar today; get out your Farmer’s Almanac and check the heavens for a preview of the year ahead. Only once in a blue moon there is one on New Year’s Eve. Revelers ringing in a new year haven’t [...]

Lang may your lum reek. May the fire on your hearth burn on. —Scottish New Year toast Dropping a possum at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve is most definitely not a traditional Appalachian custom. Please note that the folks in Brasstown, NC, self-proclaimed “Opossum Capital of the World,” have only been dropping—well, [...]

Ringing out the old, ringing in the new. Everyone’s doing it tomorrow night. One New Year tradition in Appalachia is the New Year baby. The custom of using a baby to signify the New Year originated in ancient Greece, the baby symbolizing in this case not birth, but re-birth. The Germans added the twist of [...]