Little Egypt Heritage Articles eduda tsunogisdi © Bill Oliver 18 February 2007 Vol 6 Issue: #07 ISBN: Pending O’siyo, Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of Little Egypt, “Family Ties” Family Ties! Not the kind one puts around their neck, but rather what binds family members together. A bond that usually grows with age, at least, once they are out of the competition stages. It is just my sister and I now. Our parents have passed on. There were six years between us. I entered my nuclear family as the ‘youngest’ sibling. Prior to my second birthday I became the ‘only’ child. Then a few years later I obtained the status of ‘oldest’ sibling. To my pleasure, my sister dropped in on us this week. Per usual we talked of times together and of our parents and other family members – aunts, uncles, cousins, even a grandparent or two. We become ‘kids’ again. Our Dad was a ‘wordsmith’ extra-ordinaire, so this makes a good topic when Sis and I get together. She claims to have won a [singular] game of scrabble with him, but let me tell you that I never did. He would frustrate me ‘till I wouldn’t play further. [Of course, Dad was also an excellent poker player and he could out bluff me any time.] We always climax with the time when all the children and grandchildren were gathered around and we listened to many stories from Dad. However, this time we got to ‘roasting’ him, my Sister and I and we finally got him – but GOOD! It was tough but we did it. This has now become the legend in our family. Well, according to Anne Pellowski in “World of Storytelling” [p15], Storytelling is “the art or craft of narration of stories and/or prose, as performed or led by one person before a live audience; the stories narrated may be spoken, chanted, or sung, with or without musical, picorial, and/or other accompaniment and may be learned from oral, printed, or mechanically recorded sources; one of its purpsoes may be that of entertainment.” Now, storytelling has been known for eons. In fact Georgiana Valoyce Sanchez wrote: “A long, long time ago, the Creator, and who knows how many Great Beings – gave the People language – at this time stories were born.” Written records of storytelling have been found in Sansckrit, Old German, Celtic, Latin, Chinese, Greek, Icelandic, as well as, Old Slavonic. [Probably some cultures have been missed.] One of the earliest surviving records is found in the Western Papyrus of the Egyptians in which the sons of Cheops, the pyramid builder, entertained their father with stories. The epic tale, Gilgamesh, which relates the story of a Sumerian King, is another of our oldest surviving epic tales. Even Shakespeare wrote in King Richard II, “For God’s sake, let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings.” Anne Pellowski in “The World of Storytelling” defines the ‘bard’ as, “a storyteller whose function is to create and/or perform poetic oral narrations that chronicle events or praise the illustrious forebears and present leaders of a tribal, cultural, or national group.” [p19] The bardic storyteller was a combination storyteller, poet and musician. The term bard had its origin with the Celts. The meaning of the term has changed over time in Scotland and Ireland. Storytellers have also been called minstrels and jongleurs. In the winter time, when the days are shorter and the nights longer, the people gather around the “fire” for entertainment to hear the stories that they will later tell the next generations. Stories represent various aspects of human life. Often with a touch of humor and vividness, these tales teach us how we should behave, how things came to be and that we should give thanks for all our blessings. Storytelling is an oral custom of a people who educate with insight and humor. Sis’s visit was a blessing for we visited a relative who was happy to reminisce and give us wonderful insights of our Mother and Father when they were in their teens and early married life together. When we were children we would often run into opposition to stories of certain relatives. Maybe an uncle left in a huff and the remaining folks would take offense and never discuss that person again. In today’s world more and more stories are being passed down from generation to generation. In fact I think we are returning to the myth keepers as actors, mimes, singers, and even dancers. There are many, many parts to being a myth keeper. These parts follow the definition of bardic tales mentioned earlier. If one reads old stories from many cultures they find a commonality to stories in general. For example: At the dawn of time there existed only water. In the broadest sense from water came land; from land and water came all forms of life, including mankind. This connects us all because all life comes from the same source. For my written stories, I may present brief introductory material(s) about the story being told, which might include background necessary to understand the story. Also, I try always to give the source of your story: another storyteller, a book, etc. While reading Pellowski [p106] I was fascinated by the idea that in the West Indian custom of storytelling, the narrator offers a phrase to introduce and/or close the story. For example, to introduce the story, the scene is set for telling by: the narrator saying : “Cric” and the audience would respond: “Crac” (meaning, ‘We want to hear your story’). Following this custom no one speaks except the narrator until the ending, which might go like this: “Snic, snac, snout; my story is told out.” Our Dad had a phrase that might be said at the beginning or at the end of his story. Dad would say something similar to: “I know not the truth of the matter, but ‘tis how it was told to me.” e-la-Di-e-das-Di ha-WI NV-WA-do-hi-ya NV-WA-to-hi-ya-da. (May you walk in peace and harmony) Wado, Bill -=- 970 PostScript: "Myths are universal and timeless stories that reflect and shape our lives ..." Alexander McCall Smith, Dream Angus Archived articles: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=ilmassac