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Carson McCullers once said, “We are homesick most for the places we have never known.” I thought of this quote when I first came across the a story about carpet rag parties or loomba pairties, which were large get-togethers of entire families along with friends and neighbors, who would spend hours cutting up old clothing and other cotton material to make giant balls of cloth out of the good pieces in order to sell to carpet weavers. But while the get-together occurred, everyone interacted with each other. The children played games; the adults traded stories. People communicated with — please sit down for this one — their mouths and actual voices.

Not all families have this ability to work and live cooperatively in our modern world. Even mine succumbed to problems regarding money and control issues. Such is reality. But for a moment, let us travel back to the 1800s and early-1900s when things like carpet rag parties were activities of which we would look forward.

If you would like to learn more about carpet rag parties, Google the Summer 1961 (Vol. 12, No. 2) issue of ‘Pennsylvania Folklife,’ which is available online from Ursinus College. The story by Paul R. Wieand can be found on page 27.

Description
Carson McCullers once said, “We are homesick most for the places we have never known.” I thought of this quote when I first came across the a story about carpet rag parties or loomba pairties, which were large get-togethers of entire families along with friends and neighbors, who would spend hours cutting up old clothing and other cotton material to make giant balls of cloth out of the good pieces in order to sell to carpet weavers. But while the get-together occurred, everyone interacted with each other. The children played games; the adults traded stories. People communicated with — please sit down for this one — their mouths and actual voices.

Not all families have this ability to work and live cooperatively in our modern world. Even mine succumbed to problems regarding money and control issues. Such is reality. But for a moment, let us travel back to the 1800s and early-1900s when things like carpet rag parties were activities of which we would look forward.

If you would like to learn more about carpet rag parties, Google the Summer 1961 (Vol. 12, No. 2) issue of ‘Pennsylvania Folklife,’ which is available online from Ursinus College. The story by Paul R. Wieand can be found on page 27.