barnraising

plural barnraisings · alternative barn raising · alternative barn-raising

1. The collective construction of a barn by members of a community, common in 18th- and 19th-century rural North America, and present-day Mennonite and Amish communities.

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   It was founded on a deep knowledge of human nature; namely, upon the fact that people read most eagerly that which they already know, if it is about themselves or their neighbors, if it is a report of something they have been concerned in, a lecture they have heard, a fair, or festival, or wedding, or funeral, or barn-raising they have attended.

   1904, Charles Dudley Warner, “The American Newspaper”, in The Complete Essays of Charles Dudley Warner

   “So Olaf is building a new barn?” Nils asked absently. “Biggest one in the county, and almost done. You'll likely be here for the barn-raising. He's going to have a supper and a dance as soon as everybody's done threshing. Says it keeps the voters in good humour. I tell him that's all nonsense; but Olaf has a head for politics.”

   1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl