Today is World Storytelling Day, usually celebrated on the Spring Equinox. A celebration of the oral tradition of telling stories to an audience or simply to your friends and family. It’s a lovely opportunity to switch off our phones and computers, to just be still and listen. A good storyteller will weave magic with words and transport us to another place.
I’m a Belfast girl, and there’s a proud tradition of storytelling where I come from. I worked in a library for many years, and we hosted a group called The Yarnspinners. They met once a month and a guest storyteller would hold the group spellbound. The Yarnspinners started in 1991 and is still going today. One of the founding members, Peg Armstrong, was awarded the MBE, and a recording of stories raised thousands of pounds for the NI Hospice. The storytelling has evolved over the years, extending beyond the island of Ireland and welcoming spinners of yarns from all corners of the globe.
However, stories don’t have to be told to a paying audience by professionals. All of us have personal stories that can be shared with friends and family. We tell stories on our Facebook and Instagram pages. What if we were to tell our stories face to face at gatherings with family and friends? Stories about people we’ve met, places we’ve been, family memories, yarns passed down from grandparents. What if we recorded these stories for future generations? Rather than writing it down, what if we preserved the voices of the people who’ve gone before us? Those stories that we’re privileged to hear; to keep that oral tradition of storytelling alive.
Many of us, including me, aren’t comfortable when we hear recordings of our own voices. It makes me squirm when I hear myself! Do you feel the same? Perhaps I should be brave and record my stories or interview my elderly parents and listen to family stories that may be lost to the next generation. All our families and friends have stories to tell.
So perhaps on this World Storytelling Day, it’s time to keep the oral tradition alive. Tell our stories in person, talk about our life, and tell the stories that inspired or scared us when we were younger. We don’t have to be professional yarnspinners, we just have to speak.
Comments