Appalachian History

The convenient and pithy term for the mountain people of Kentucky, "our contemporary ancestors," does not indicate the origin of the customs, beliefs, and peculiarities which persist among them. For they too had ancestors. These were, for the most part, British, and of the soil. Just as today many a mountaineer has never been ten miles from his birthplace, so also his forebears remained at home.

They were sturdy men and women, steeped in traditional ways, independent and as little humble as possible. The mountaineer is that way too. He cares neither for ease nor for soft living. He is hospitable. "Welcome, stranger, light and hitch," is the salutation, and the stranger is bidden to take "damn near all" of whatever the table offers.

A hunter by race, he is first of all a poacher, in arms against such as would deny him the right to take game where he may find it, a trait dating back to the time of Robin Hood in England. His speech is reminiscent of this older land and people. Labeled as "a survival," the mountaineer in reality is on the defensive, protecting himself against later comers and strange ideas. "I wouldn’t choose to crave this newfangled teachin’ and preachin’," he says. "All I ask is to be let alone. I was doin’ middlin’ well. The hull kit and bilin’ can go to the devil."

Mountain dialect reflects the Anglo-Saxon origin of the mountain people; obsolete forms found in Shakespeare and the King James version of the Bible are in common use. "Clumb," "writ," and "et" for climbed, wrote and ate are common enough if you go back a few centuries. "Buss" for kiss, "pack" for carry, and "poke" for pocketbag and the like are pure Elizabethan.

Shakespeare said "a-feared," as does the mountaineer today, and "beholden" is common to both. "His schoolin’ holp him mighty," says the proud mountain father; King Richard of England said, "Let him thank me that holp send him thither." "Hit’s right pied," shouts the mountain boy when the snake he has stoned puffs up and mottles. But he probably never read of "meadows trim with daisies pied," or heard of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. When he sings, the mountaineer "rolls a song," and his expression, "he looks like the hind wheels of bad luck," is so expressive that only the carping student would seek to trace its heritage.

Folklore is found not only among the mountaineers but in every county in the State, in town and in city. In the mountains, however, because of close-knit family and community ties, it is part of everyday life. Songs and sayings are more than quaint and queer; they have living reality.


The WPA Guide to Kentucky, Compiled by the Federal Writers’ Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Kentucky, F. Kevin Simon, Editor,Univ. of KY 1939, publ. Harcourt Brace & Co.


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Kentuckians have long shared, among other things, their love for horses, whiskey making and music with the Irish. Listen carefully to Eastern Kentucky’s fiddlers and you‘ll hear the refrains of Irish jigs and reels. And Kentucky’s buck dancing, or clogging, is a particularly vigorous and often undisciplined cousin to the Irish jig.

Indeed, more than 696,286 people of Irish ancestry live in Kentucky. That’s second only to the descendants of Germans. They have been there for hundreds of years, even before the great migration caused by the potato famine of 1845-6.

And so March 17 is not just any ordinary day in Kentucky. It’s time for Eastern Kentucky vs. State, corned beef and cabbage, and of course parades.

Ole St Patrick wasn’t always named that. When he was born in ancient Britain, his name was Maewyn Succat. At 16, he was kidnapped by pirates, taken across the sea to Ireland and sold as a slave. Patrick escaped after six years and went to a monastery to become a Roman Catholic priest. When Patrick was about 60 years old, he returned to Ireland as a missionary and became the country's second bishop. St. Patrick established schools, churches and monasteries throughout Ireland.

St. Patrick is surrounded by legends. A popular one is that he gave a sermon so powerful that he drove all the snakes out of Ireland. Since no snakes are native to Ireland, it probably symbolizes the pagans who either converted to Christianity or were run out of Ireland. Patrick used the three-leafed shamrocks to explain certain church teachings. The shamrock became the symbol of St. Patrick's Day.

Source: www.courier-journal.com/foryourinfo/031802/031802.html

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