Front Porch Magic: Springtime Traditions in Appalachia

By Lacey Williams

Ask anyone in Appalachia about our weather lately and they’ll tell you that spring here takes its time showing up. It sleeps in. It climbs out of bed slowly and stubborn-like. But when it does finally arrive, it’s with a list of chores that need to be done right away. By the time you start to smell the mud that’s peeking out from under the leftover snow, the traditions are already well under way.

It’s more than just spring cleaning, though. In Appalachia, what might look like cleaning is actually continuing the practices and beliefs passed down to us through our heritage and lineage. They are actions deeply rooted in protection, renewal, and respect for the hard hello of the season that tests us before it gives back to us.

In the earliest spring days, the tasks start small. Start with opening your doors and windows to let out the negative energy and illness of the winter. After being sealed for months, the house needs to breathe. The next step is to sweep your floors, but you have to do it in the right order. Start by walking room to room while sprinkling cinnamon and salt on the floors for prosperity and vitality. Then start in the back and sweep towards the front of the house to push out the negative energy. Make sure you do it in a timely manner, though, Dust traps negativity, and letting it sit too long before throwing it out lets the hardships of the winter settle in for the spring. Take the dustpan full of what you sweep outside and throw it over your left shoulder for good luck.

Next, you’ll want to mix together a cleaner. A mixture of pine and water will bring renewal and protection. Clean all your wood furnishings with this. A mixture of water, salt, and vinegar will clear out negative energy. Perfet to clean your floors and counters. A mixture of cedar tea will clear away sadness. This one is great for cleaning your walls. When you’re finished, your house will smell great and feel lighter.

Hanging eggshells on a string around the house will absorb any residual negative energy floating in the air. Hanging crosses made of dogwood branches on the walls will ward off malevolent spirits. Thresholds and doorways are boundaries between what does and doesn’t belong in both the physical world and the spiritual world. So, hammer a couple iron nails above the doorway and hang an open horseshoe above it to catch all the good luck coming your way.

Take your rugs outside and beat them to knock out dust and illness. Replace the rugs and then walk around the house reading Psalms 23 or 91 while sprinkling holy water around the perimeter and salt across the outer doorways of the house to keep any evil spirits outside. Light a fire in the fireplace or wood stove and fill it with a mixture of cedar branches, pine branches, and tobacco leaves. This will lighten the remaining air.

Once the fire dies down, scoop the ashes out and take them to your garden. What’s left of the fires that protected your home all winter will now protect and nourish the crops in the coming months. Just make sure you don’t start planting too early, or you will anger the land and invite loss. Then walk yourself to a moving stream and cleanse your feet in the water to remove illness lingering in your body and any bad luck clinging to you. As an added bonus, you can paint the ceiling over your porch (or spruce up the paint if it’s already done). A fresh coat of light “haint” blue will ward off any unwelcome spirits from crossing the porch to your door.

These might seem like simple tasks that many people might move through without a second thought. But here, we know that fresh air cleanses, sun heals, and intentions matter. What outsiders might consider superstition, we see as how we keep our homes clean, our families healthy, connected to our faith and our heritage, and control in the face of uncertainty. Spring here isn’t just a season. It’s something we wait impatiently for all winter long, and it’s something we deliberately prep and plan for.

The same sun that etched lines onto our grandmothers’ faces that we studied as kids on the porch watching her stringing beans, the same sun that burned our grandfathers’ necks after weeding their gardens all afternoon, the same sun that fed our mothers’ flower beds and herb gardens, is the same sun that still peaks out from behind the frosted clouds every March and melts away the harshness and hardships of the winter. It’s the same sun that thaws our frozen hands and minds. It’s out there waiting for us all.

 So go outside and turn your face up to it, then get started on the list. Because there’s work to be done and time waits for no one. It isn’t enough to clean; you have to do it right: the same way it’s always been done and the way we are meant to carry it forward. Summer is coming right around the corner, and how it plays out tomorrow depends on what you do with your time today.