#mcdowellcounty

Summer in Appalachia is magical. The land simply comes to life. Summer makes me think of barefeet, slamming screendoors, katydids, lightning bugs, warm tomatoes, canning jars, swimming holes, sweet iced tea, sunning, watermelons, blackberries, flip flops, cotton night gowns, warm dirt, baseball, sun kissed faces, corn on the cob, fried squash, fresh cucumbers, guitar picking on the porch, clotheslines, campfires, and honey bees.

Sweet Summertime Memories.

Appalachian Folklore, Wives Tales, and Superstitions: The lore and sayings may vary based on location, family tradition, and other factors, but this is just what I’m sharing from my experiences!

•Deaths and births always come in threes.

• Don’t throw your hair out! If a bird builds a nest with it, you’ll have migraines.

• “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky at morning, sailor’s warning.”

• If the leaves on trees are flipped over with their backsides showing, rain’s coming.

• If you’re giving someone a wallet or purse as a present, put money in it to ensure they’ll never financially struggle.

• Spirits can’t cross running water.

• Cats and dogs won’t enter a room where spirits are present.

• Carry an acorn in your pocket for good luck, a penny for prosperity, and a nail for protection.

• If you’re having nightmares, put a Bible under your pillow. They’ll go away.

• Take a spoonful of honey to keep your words sweet.

• It’s bad luck to walk over a grave.

• A horseshoe hung above a door ensures good luck.

• A horseshoe in the bedroom staves away nightmares.

• If your right hand itches, you’ll soon be receiving money. If the left itches, you’ll be paying it.

• Rubbing a bit of potato on a wart helps it to go away.

• If the soles of your feet itch, you will soon walk on strange grounds.

• Black eyed peas, greens, and/or pork and sauerkraut should be eaten on New Year’s Day to welcome good luck and good fortune.

• Driving a nail into a bedframe or crib will drive away curses.

• If your ears are burning, someone’s talking about you.

• If you dream of fish, you are or will soon be pregnant.

• Listen to the wisdom of children, they see and know more than we think.

I Am Appalachian- Tent Revivals; Flea Markets; Hog killings; the train whistle late at night; cars that stop when the dead pass; the rooster crowing as the sun comes up; getting flogged when gathering eggs; baptizing in the creek; hunting ginseng; turning the antenna outside so your Dad can see the news; rabbit ears with aluminum foil on them; dinner on the grounds; drinking from a spring on the side of the road; canning food; eating home grown food and sharing it with others that go without; frog gigging; watching a garden grow; dirt track racing; Bluegrass Music; the pain of death and the joy of a newborn baby; Thunderstorms under a tin roof; Hickory Switches you had to go get yourself; Learning to drive on icy mountain roads.

I am made up of many things; the field hand, farmer, soldier, mill worker, teacher, and many others. They have lived, loved and died in these mountains.

This is where and what I come from. I am Appalachian!

The hollers echo with the past and new,

a changing world, but roots remain so true.

For in this place, the ghosts of hard-won days, still walk the winding paths in misty haze.

And every ridge holds stories, wild and deep,

"There is a certain splendor in the heart of North Carolina, where the ancient mountains rise up to meet the sky. It’s a sight that humbles the soul and reminds us of nature's enduring, silent beauty."

The mountains have this way of making you feel like you are breathing dreams like air. 💙