In the past month, two dear friends from the tiny hamlet of Helvetia in the West Virginia Appalachians passed away. With them goes a great deal of memory and wisdom and beauty. We’re heading down there to pay our respects, and… just be for a while…in Appalachia’s astonishing spring, as we remember their wild, rich,…
Read Morefasnacht: wild + creative antidote for winter
This Saturday is Fasnacht, a wildly pagan, pre-Lenten festival takes place in Helvetia, a tiny town deep in the West Virginia Appalachians that was settled by the Swiss in the 1860’s. It is like Mardi Gras in a cold snowy land: revelers parade through the town wearing terrifying homemade masks and carrying lanterns lit by…
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