i like stories. i`m a sucker of a good story of any kind, on paper, on film, online, but my favourite is, the oral tradition. listening to someone weave a tale. i met vic`s father before he died and he was one of the best, i spent a day just listening to him. he was pure genius.
in society`s fixation with remaining young we seem to have lost the joy of listening to our elders, not only that our elders seem to have forgotten part of their duty is to pass on the stories, their stories.
i grew up by myself in the company of my mother ie, wherever she went i went most of the time and in the era of children should be seen and no heard, i would sit quietly while the adults talked or after a time i would go with a book so i could keep myself occupied. but sometimes they would see me sitting there staring off into space and tell me a tale about where we were, about them growing up, the furniture in the house, anything, but it was a tale.
you don`t see or hear that anymore. very rarely do parents tell children stories before bed and if they do it tends to be popular fiction read from a book. i`m not knocking that, but i think sometimes it just fun to make something up or pass on a story you`ve heard.
i believe there is one source for all our tales. one of my things; it`s not a hobby cause i don`t actively go out and do it, it`s just something that fascinates me; is collecting fables. i have a batch of links with a lot of myths and fables, i have a couple collections in my physically library as well. there are common themes in all the cultures` myths i`ve read. flood tales, tricksters, heroes and their travails, they all exist in some form or fashion.
once it`s a good story i`m drawn in. this morning i was watching a movie, it was in chinese and i was getting ready for work so i wasn`t paying complete attention to it but i could pick up the threads of the tale because of how well it was told.
Technorati Tags:
storytelling, oral tradition
