World Storytelling Day

World Storytelling Day

World Storytelling Day is a global celebration of the art of oral storytelling. It is celebrated every year on the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, the first day of autumn equinox in the southern. On World Storytelling Day, as many people as possible tell and listen to stories in as many languages and at as many places as possible, during the same day and night. Participants tell each other about their events in order to share stories and inspiration, to learn from each other and create international contacts.

The significance in the event lies in the fact that it is the first global celebration of storytelling of its kind, and has been important in forging links between storytellers often working far apart from each other. It has also been significant in drawing public and media attention to storytelling as an art form.

Event History

World Storytelling Day has its roots in a national day for storytelling in Sweden, circa 1991-2. At that time, an event was organized for March 20 in Sweden called "Alla berättares dag" (All storytellers day). The Swedish national storytelling network passed out some time after, but the day stayed alive, celebrated around the country by different enthusiasts. In 1997, storytellers in Perth, Western Australia coordinated a five-week long Celebration of Story, commemorating March 20 as the International Day of Oral Narrators. At the same time, in Mexico and other South American countries, March 20 was already celebrated as the National Day of Storytellers.

When the Scandinavian storytelling web-network, Ratatosk, started around 2001, Scandinavian storytellers started talking, and in 2002, the event spread from Sweden to Norway, Denmark, Finland and Lithuania. In 2003, the idea spread to Canada and other countries, and the event has become known internationally as World Storytelling Day. World Storytelling Day 2005 had a grande finale on Sunday March the 20th. There were events from 25 countries on 5 continents, and 2006 saw the program grow further. 2007 was the first time a storytelling concert was held in Newfoundland, Canada. In 2008 The Netherlands took part in World Storytelling Day with a big event called 'Vertellers in de Aanval' on March the 20th; three thousand kids were surprised by the sudden appearance of storytellers in their classrooms.

Themes

Each year, many of the individual storytelling events that take place around the globe are linked by a common theme. Each year, the theme is identified by and agreed upon by storytellers from around the world.

* 2004 - Birds
* 2005 - Bridges
* 2006 - The Moon
* 2007 - The Wanderer
* 2008 - Dreams
* 2009 - Neighbours

See also

* Storytelling
* Storytelling festival

External links

* [http://www.freewebs.com/worldstorytellingday/ Event listings and information on hosting World Storytelling Day events]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/ElinorBenjaminandDaleJarvisWorldStorytellingDay2007Concert World Storytelling Day 2007] - Archived open source audio recording in downloadable and streaming formats.
* [http://www.jourmondialduconte.net French storytelling day site]
* [http://www.verteleens.eu site Vertel eens : Netherlands storytelling magazine, with articles and pictures of World Storytelling Day]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Storytelling — is the ancient art of conveying events in words, images, and sounds often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture and in every land as a means of entertainment, education, preservation of culture …   Wikipedia

  • Storytelling festival — A storytelling festival is often an annual event that features local, regional and/or nationally known oral storytellers. Each storyteller will have a scheduled amount of time(s) to share a story (or stories) with an audience. The featured… …   Wikipedia

  • Yukon International Storytelling Festival — The Yukon International Storytelling Festival is held every Summer in Whitehorse, Yukon, generally in an outdoor setting. The storytelling festival was conceived in the mid 1980s when one the Yukon s last Tagish speakers found herself going to… …   Wikipedia

  • World Science Festival — The World Science Festival is a science festival held in New York City and will be an annual event. The inaugural festival took place from May 28 to June 1, 2008 and featured several different kinds of presentations: The main events were… …   Wikipedia

  • World of Warcraft — WoW redirects here. For other uses, see Wow. World of Warcraft …   Wikipedia

  • World Eskimo Indian Olympics — The World Eskimo Indian Olympics (or WEIO) is an annual event held over a four day period in July or August, designed to preserve cultural practices and traditional survival skills essential to life in circumpolar areas of the world. The WEIO… …   Wikipedia

  • National Storytelling Festival — The National Storytelling Festival is held the first full weekend of October in Jonesborough, Tennessee at the International Storytelling Center. The National Storytelling Festival was founded by Jimmy Neil Smith, a high school journalism teacher …   Wikipedia

  • Islāmic world — Introduction  prehistory and history of the Islamic community.       Adherence to Islām is a global phenomenon: Muslims predominate in some 30 to 40 countries, from the Atlantic to the Pacific and along a belt that stretches across northern… …   Universalium

  • Origin of Latter Day Saint polygamy — Mormonism and polygamy Members of Joseph F. Smith s family, including his sons and daughters, as well as their spouses and children, circa 1900 …   Wikipedia

  • Peace Tree Day — is an annual festival for children and families of every culture and faith to share and celebrate peace and diversity together. It was founded by educator/filmmaker Mitra Sen, the producer/director of the award winning film The Peace Tree .… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”