Let's Talk About Heritage

My hometown has a (hmm... what's the word festival, street fair, gathering... any of those will work) every year on Memorial Weekend and it's called Heritage Days. At some point though I think my brother called it "hergtige" (like hedge but with a r and only 2 syllables) so when I think of this word and go to say it, it usually comes out wrong.

I digress. I've been thinking a lot about heritage lately for some reason. And in pondering on it I recently connected the dots to realize how deep my roots are here in Virginia. From at least 3 generations back (all of my great grandparents) were from Virginia. Those are deep roots folks. No wonder it's hard to imagine leaving sweet Virginia.

The balance between hanging on and letting go is difficult in any situation but in my case it has been hardest in maintaining my roots. Clearly my accent has not left me and many have told me it's gotten worse. And I take much pride in my home but what I don't understand is the shame some people feel. I am so proud of where I come from and the self-made people there.

In researching Appalachia it's been so nice to read positive views of the Appalachian people rather than the stereotypes. In my experience, it's the Appalachian people themselves that tend to speak more frequently of the locals regarding the typical stereotypes like welfare abuse, hillbilliness (new word alert) and ignorance. And while there's no shortage of those things in the world, certainly none of them are exclusive to Appalachia. And why would any of us want to encourage those stereotypes (anybody been watching Buckwild?? shame on you!)

I'm not someone to embrace the stereotypes and I will direct you to a post from forever ago about mountain intellectuals. I know plenty of them, people without formal education who know a lot more than most professors I've had. My mother is the youngest of 11 and was raised in a household where her mother made their clothes and her daddy worked in the mines. My daddy was raised by the hardest working woman I know and a man who preferred working for himself rather than for the man. Thank God for those roots. I carry them with me everyday.

In thinking of all this over the past weeks my mom's sister posted some old pictures of their family through the years and I wanted to share. After going "home" this weekend I will try to post some of my dad's family if I can get my hands on some. Hope you enjoy them and that some of them speak to you:

 

Christmas

My sweet papaw, I miss him so

My mamaw

The swoop bangs belong to my naked little mommy



This could potentially be my favorite picture of all time.

3 of my mom's sisters

 

 



Would love to hear about your heritage fellow bloggers. Take pride in it, it's made you who you are.