MoonDay Musings: the magic of storytelling

In a certain way it is a shame, the tradition of telling about the past of the family, does not exist anymore.

Probably, for some time, the Boom generation is the last generation where the youngsters sat on the lap of their grandparents listening to those very interesting stories of the past as well as to the many fairytales and fables.
As kids we could dream about wonder tales involving marvellous elements and occurrences, bringing us in dreamland. Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm ( Jacob Ludwig Carl and Wilhelm Carl Grimm) , were daily food for many of the generations born before 1960, who also grew up with several fables or parables.

In many industrialised countries there is no time given anymore to public storytellers or to public poets .It would not be bad to have again a bearer of “old lore” (seanchas) or have again recitals by bards, to bring the past back to life.
We may not forget that by telling about the past we can learn for the future and find ways to strengthen ourselves.

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Additional reading

1. To relive that what happened in the past
2. Stories of the beginnings, and one Main book composed of four major sections
3. The flood, floods and mythic flood stories 6 European myths
4. Dia de Los Muertos – Day of the dead
5. Allhallowtide with Halloween, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day

Inner Journey Events Blog

Photo by Nong Vang on Unsplash

We learn history in many ways — from school textbooks, non-fiction scholarly works, novels, television, documentaries and films, the nightly news and more — and some of those sources may even be accurate. 

But what of cultural lore and traditions, and family history?

In the past, these stories were shared at family gatherings, at times of celebration such as festivals like Samhain and Bealtaine, but also on special days for individuals such as births, birthdays or naming days, weddings, and —yes — deaths, as families gathered to celebrate the life of a loved one who had passed. 

In ancient Irish traditions — and many other cultures and places with strong oral traditions — families, villages, clans and tribes honoured the role of the story teller.

These were known as the fílidh (pronounced fee-lee) in Druidic and Celtic traditions, poet-seers who learned hundred…

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