Cultural Restoration

Lately, I have received a series of unexpected visits. Just last night, my friend Tim happened to be in the neighborhood after a two hour drive from Sandpoint. Seems like that never happens, but we took advantage of a rare situation to get some great conversation time. 

During our visit, we spoke about the concept of "cultural restoration."

Cultural restoration is difficult for me to fully define. It is based on the idea that certain cultural practices from the past tended to encourage a greater sense of personal and community integration than current practices. For example, when people shared a communal oven for baking bread, or got together to pick huckleberries, the shared interdependence created strong community ties spanning multiple generations. However, as society moved toward industrialization, people tended to rely less upon one another. As a result, our present age increasingly suffers disconnection and the fragmentation of community. 

Using the example of food, maintaining a community garden, or reviving the tradition of pit baked moss, could be considered forms of cultural restoration.