TODAY is Labor Day !
Traditionally, Labor Day has always been a sort of marker for the change of the seasons.
Summer is fast coming to an end and the fall months will soon make their arrival.
In times past, for Southerners, Labor Day signaled a definitive change in wardrobe.
Though staunch rules of etiquette and stiff dress codes have all but vanished in today's society, most older generation southerners remember when there was a very strict and strongly enforced rule involving Labor Day.
Everyone knew : NO WHITE AFTER LABOR DAY (Or Before Easter)
This meant no white dresses (except of course, white wedding dresses which were /are always in season) no white belts, shoes (especially shoes !!!) , purses ect.
No self respecting southerner would ever even think of breaking the rule or be caught dead wearing some white shoes after this appointed date !
It just wasn't done!
If someone did happen to break the rule, everyone, no doubt thought in their
heads: "Bless Their Hearts. They didn't have proper raisin' ! : )
Southerners are known for hospitality, sweet tea ...and a zillion rules !!!
We strongly believe in things being "decent and in order "
No one ever really notices those types of things much anymore , but this is one southerner who remembers ...and still abides by "The Labor Day Rule" .
These days, it seems as though people try to make almost everything in life a black or white issue.
It simply is not the case.
Recently, I received a message in my Facebook message box which said :
Ms Dorsey you post many folk life photos but I have yet to see you post any of Black Folk Life in Mississippi?????
One of my first thoughts was: "You must have missed a whole lot of my posts/pictures."
I posted a response on my page which included some of the following statements:
EVERY
single thing that I post has something to do with some some aspect
of MY own life experiences. Many of my posts are pictures to go along
with poems from my books, Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia : A Life
In Poems (MY Life..the life I know about ! ) and My Magnolia Memories
and Musings- In Poems (emphasis on MY)
If I am not mistaken,.,and I don't think that I am..I do qualify as :Black Folk" LOL!!!
If I don't qualify, my parents will be VERY disappointed !!! Please don't tell them !!!LOL!
Most
of the pictures that I post are of southern scenes and scenery
...fields, landscapes, old buildings, barns, farm life, farm animals ,
front porches, ect.
Those type of pictures are certainly not a black or white thing "
They are a "southern thing".
Southern is NOT a color.
When I am posting, I am never thinking of reflecting or appealing to black or white..
It never entered my mind to categorize the type of things that I post in terms of color.
I
don't know if the roosters or the cows or pigs are supposed to be black
or white folk life pictures but they are what I know about my country
life upbringing.
From all of the feedback that I receive, it seems, that a lot of people, both black and white had the very same upbringing .
I post a goo gob of down-home , country style food pictures !!!
I
really didn't know how obsessed I was/am with food until I started
reading my own poems! Almost every other one of them has something to do
with food!! LOL!!!
I don't think of the food items that I post in terms of a black or white thing.
Anyone should be able to see that it's a very Southern thing!
And, I must repeat, Southern is NOT a color !
Judging
from all of the requests that I get to repost so many of the food
recipes and pictures, it seems that a whole lot of people, both black
an white love the same kinds of food that I love to eat and grew up on.
In general, I post a whole, whole lot about loving and the South.
Is that a white folk thing or a black folk thing ???
No , it's a Southern thing !
We LOVE our South. We love our "southern" !
Southern is NOT a color !
I
received so many positive responses from Facebook friends on that
initial post saying that one of the reasons that they love my posts is
because I don't make them into a black or white thing.
Of course, I will continue doing just what I do ...
Always, Always....Celebrating the South and things Southern
Until Next Time.. Love, Peace...and Chicken Grease !
Join in on the celebration !
Enjoy more southern poems:
BOOKS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON:
http://tinyurl.com/reflections-pnd
http://tinyurl.com/magnolia-mem-pnd
