Quilting bee

Communal work is a gathering to accomplish a task or to hold a competition. A number of cultures have such gatherings, often for the purpose of holding a competition, such as a spelling bee, or for providing manual labour, such as in a barn raising, or quilting bee.

Especially in the past major jobs, such as clearing a field of timber or raising a barn, needed many workers. It was often both a social and utilitarian event. Jobs like corn husking or sewing could be done as a group to allow socializing during an otherwise tedious chore. Such gatherings often included refreshments and entertainment. Different words have been used to describe such gatherings.

This use of the word bee is common in literature describing colonial North America. It was, and continues to be, commonly used in Australia also, most often as "working bee".

Uses in literature include:

Because the word describes people working together in a social group, a common false etymology is that the term derives from the insect of the same name and similar social behavior. According to etymological research recorded in dictionaries, the word probably comes from dialectal been or bean (meaning "help given by neighbors"), which came from Middle English bene (meaning "prayer", "boon" and "extra service by a tenant to his lord")

Harambee (Swahili: [haramˈbeː]) is an East African (Kenyan, Tanzanian and Ugandan) tradition of community self-help events, e.g. fundraising or development activities. Harambee literally means "all pull together" in Swahili, and is also the official motto of Kenya and appears on its coat of arms.

Naffīr (نفير) is an Arabic word used in parts of Sudan (including Kordofan, Darfur, parts of the Nuba mountains and Kassala) to describe particular types of communal work undertakings. Naffīr has been described as including a group recruited through family networks, in-laws and village neighbors for some particular purpose, which then disbands when that purpose is fulfilled. An alternative, more recent, definition describes naffīr as "to bring someone together from the neighborhood or community to carry out a certain project, such as building a house or providing help during the harvest season."

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Wikipedia