English

 Gaga Music 
 

This interview clip features TAUNY Heritage Award Winner and New York State champion fiddler Don Woodcock of Kendrew Corners in St. Lawrence County, northern New York. In the midst of teaching me tunes to play at the Old-time Fiddlers' Gathering that weekend in Watkins Glen, NY, Woodcock demonstrates some singing dance calls that were popular in the past, along with some fiddle tune variations that show how tunes are played differently in different parts of the region and beyond.

Chief Tom Porter of Akwesasne, Iroquois Mohawk community in northern NY, tells (an abbreviated version of) the traditional longhouse story of "The Three Sisters." The story is about the importance of corn, beans, and squash as staple foods and includes the origin story of these "three sister" foods themselves and how they were determined to be the most prominent of all foods. Porter also talks about traditional preparations of corn and related foods.

The St. Joseph's Day Table is a primarily Italian American tradition that honors the saint on his feast day, March 19. It recalls the answer to prayers for rain from drought-stricken faithful in Sicily in the Middle Ages, and their subsequent offering of a meal for travelers, strangers, the poor and the entire community in thanksgiving.  This video takes you to a Table hosted by Bernice Hotchkiss in 2019, where she describes the foods and recalls how she began learning the recipes from older women in her community. The accompanying notes give more details on the traditional foods, their symbolism and current practice in western New York.