Bridging Appalachia

“The Appalachian Mountains in the 𝗨𝗦 were formed thanks to collisions of the Earth’s tectonic plates. When the continents we know today separated, parts of the Appalachians ended in the US, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, the British Isles, 𝗜𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱, the Iberian Peninsula and the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.” (𝘩𝘵𝘵𝘱𝘴://𝘸𝘸𝘸.𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥.𝘤𝘰𝘮/𝘦𝘯-𝘶𝘴/𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘦/𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨/𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘢𝘯-𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭/)(link in bio)

When Scot-Irish immigrants began their journey to the United States, “[t]he Appalachian region became a haven for those who had suffered under oppressive British rule…Over time, Scot-Irish culture—which is itself a blend of Scottish and Irish traditions—blended with other European, African, and Native American cultures to create the distinctive collection of folklore, art and handicraft, and cuisine that has come to represent Appalachia. (𝘩𝘵𝘵𝘱𝘴://𝘸𝘸𝘸.𝘭𝘮𝘤.𝘦𝘥𝘶/𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵/𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴-𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳/𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘴/2022/𝘪𝘯-𝘵𝘩𝘦-𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴-𝘵𝘩𝘦-𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘵𝘴-𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘩-𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦-𝘪𝘯-𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘢.𝘩𝘵𝘮)(link in bio).

As an herbalist with Irish ancestry, who has spent a great deal of time in the portion of the Appalachian Mountains ranging from the Catskills of NY to the Blue Ridge of NC, I hope to trace some of these spiritual and cultural threads, which form a small part of the web connecting people and culture through time and space. However, this is only one thread feeding into my greater purpose of examining the preservation of traditional foodways and healing modalities in folklore and the use of story, itself, as medicine. I began my exploration of these topics through herbalism, community medicine and a BA in cultural anthropology (UMBC). This fall, I will begin an MA in Folklore & Ethnology at University College Dublin. I will share some of my thoughts and observations here, if you’d like to follow along:)