Bread and Salt is a school for traditional craft, song, magic, and ritual. We take our name from an ancient welcoming ceremony, performed throughout Europe and the Middle East. Bread and Salt symbolize hospitality, good health and good luck— everything good. Through singing the old songs and learning the old ways together in community and in nature, we aim to counter the loneliness and emptiness of the current moment.
Bread and Puppet is a political theater company in Glover Vermont, and is our roots. Many of our rituals take place at Bread and Puppet Farm.
Cate Hill Orchard is a certified organic apple orchard in Greensboro Vermont. Many of our rituals and classes take place at Cate Hill Orchard.
Maria Schumann is a farmer, folklorist and singer. She grew up in Glover, Vermont on the Bread and Puppet farm. Singing, puppetry, gardening, sheep, and performing shows in fields and forests were part of her daily life since early childhood. She graduated from Yale in 1989, and studied folklore at UNC Chapel Hill in the early 2000s. She’s worked as a farmer, cheesemaker, folklorist, puppeteer, and theater director. For the last 15 years she has been creating and leading reimagined seasonal folk rituals at Cate Hill Orchard and Bread and Puppet Theater.
Bread and Salt 