Village Harvest is an in-person AND virtual event for Village Members and Supporters to cultivate support for our ongoing work.

Monday, October 28th
6:30 PM Pacific /9:30 PM Eastern

Mark your calendars! More details to come.

The word ‘village’ invokes a clustered human settlement or community, and it connotes rural and urban images. Rural villages facilitate common resource sharing and protection from the wild world around them; urban villages create safe spaces for communities and subgroups that share an interest, industry, or identity. 

In medieval England, a “village” distinguished itself from a “hamlet” by building a church. It’s not just about having a “church” - the name change recognizes that a community has established an infrastructural common ground, a sacred gathering space. 

The linguistic root of the word is weik, which is an ancient, proto-Indoeuropean word for ‘clan,’ a unit bigger than a family but smaller than a town or hamlet. Other words (and ideas) that derive from this include: bailiwick, diocese, ecology, economy, ecumenical, parish, vicinity, villain. Each of these examples highlights different aspects of community life. The term ‘village idiot’ wasn’t recorded until 1825, one of many indicators of the ways that the identities within a village and the composition of villages continue to evolve. 

Rural and urban villages are characterized by seasonal and occasional events to facilitate resource sharing, reflecting the interdependence that characterizes village life. Seasonal events might mark the passing of agricultural and climatic seasons, such as spring plantings, summer festivities, fall harvests, winter festivities; life-passage moments marking births, namings, reaching adulthood, establishing industry, marriage, leadership, governance, and commemorations.