Folk expression has always shared common ground with the common man. Across America, tradition and heritage go far beyond family gatherings at holidays. They live in the arts of storytelling, dancing, music, cooking, hunting/gathering, building (and so much more).

The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress invites members of the Flickr community to celebrate the AFC’s 40th Anniversary by showing us their folk life.

Did your grandfather pass on the art of fishing in the bayou? Did your great-grandmother share the secret spice and mash process to her rhubarb jam? Does your aunt make the most beautiful native jewelry?

Show us your folklife by using the ‘MyTradition’ tag on your photo(s) and include a Creative Commons license (LOC prefers “Attribution Creative Commons” (CC BY) and “Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons” (CC BY-SA). On December 8th, the Library of Congress will feature many of the top photos expressing American Folklife in their AFC Collection.

You can read more about the American Folklife Center and the MyTradition campaign here:
http://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2016/01/celebrate-afcs-40th-with-photos-of-mytradition/

“It takes an endless amount of history to make even a little tradition.” – Henry James