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Finding new voices to tell old tales
Rachel Hedman asked that I post this here in hopes that it would generate some discussion. This is a reprint of an article I wrote for The Telegram, a local newspaper.
Finding new voices to tell old tales
10/03/08
On the first weekend of March, I attended the 2008 Youth Cultural Conference at Carbonear Collegiate, hosted by the Baccalieu Trail Tourism Association.
The theme of the 2008 Youth Cultural Conference was, “Find a Passion, Make it Work!” The goal of the conference was to provide an opportunity for youth from the area to interact with professionals in the cultural industries.
On the Saturday, youth met with prominent artists and artisans from Newfoundland and Labrador, including Michael Crummey, Daniel Payne, Berni Stapleton, Sandy Morris and others. Yours truly gave three workshops on the tradition and art of storytelling.
I have given similar workshops in the past. For two years, I took part in storytelling workshops for high-school students as part of the Toronto Storytelling Festival. At some point in the workshops, I always asked the students if they knew any ghost or fairy stories either from their neighbourhoods or from their families. For the most part, the Ontario kids looked at me as if I were some kind of ghostly creature myself.
This past weekend, however, when I asked that question of the students, largely from the Northern Avalon with some from further afield, I got a very different response. Without fail, the students in my three Carbonear workshops all had local stories to share.
One student from Brigus shared a story of a ghostly dog said to haunt the barrens of the Baccalieu Trail, a phantom hound which you should hope you never meet, for to do so is a sign of impending death. Other students shared how their old elementary school in North River had been built on the site of a fairy path. Another told of how Sir William Coaker’s gravesite in Port Union is haunted by a ghostly breeze that will whip up and lock the gate behind you if dare venture in alone.
One girl told her workshop class about a group of kids who had camped out in an old abandoned stone house in Harbour Grace. They were never seen again … clearly a contemporary legend in the making!
I do not think that Newfoundland kids are more superstitious or gullible or bloodthirsty than their fellow students in Ontario. I do think, however, that the kids I met in Carbonear come from a place where stories, and storytelling, still has some kind of value.
When a student shared his or her stories of Newfoundland’s unexplained, the other students, almost without exception, all listened to hear how the story unfolded.
The ghost stories and fairy stories they shared are important because they are tied to the intangible culture and history of specific places. The towns, bays, graveyards, old railway beds, the wild and the barren places they spoke of are all places they knew as part of their experience growing up in, and around, rural Newfoundland.
The guest speaker for the conference was Tomas O Maoldhomhnaigh, Secretary General of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann. Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann is the largest group involved in the preservation and promotion of Irish traditional music, with hundreds of local branches around the world.
O Maoldhomhnaigh spoke about their “Fleadh Cheoil” or “Feast of Music” which is a huge music festival. He also spoke of their incredible successes in teaching young people traditional instruments, singing and dance, offering thousands of classes to young people every year.
Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann serves as an interesting model for what can happen when people respect the traditions of their place, and work to teach those traditions to a younger generation. A program to share traditional knowledge, art and craft with the youth of Newfoundland and Labrador could truly help some of our youth find their passion and make it work for them, and for the good of our communities.
It would also ensure that some of those old stories would live on. While the students did have tales of their own, I told many of them traditional stories from their own communities which they had never heard before. Unless there are new voices to tell those tales, those stories will become harder and harder to hear, and will eventually be lost, drifting like ghosts through the mists of time.
Dale Jarvis can be reached at info@hauntedhike.com
Finding new voices to tell old tales
10/03/08
On the first weekend of March, I attended the 2008 Youth Cultural Conference at Carbonear Collegiate, hosted by the Baccalieu Trail Tourism Association.
The theme of the 2008 Youth Cultural Conference was, “Find a Passion, Make it Work!” The goal of the conference was to provide an opportunity for youth from the area to interact with professionals in the cultural industries.
On the Saturday, youth met with prominent artists and artisans from Newfoundland and Labrador, including Michael Crummey, Daniel Payne, Berni Stapleton, Sandy Morris and others. Yours truly gave three workshops on the tradition and art of storytelling.
I have given similar workshops in the past. For two years, I took part in storytelling workshops for high-school students as part of the Toronto Storytelling Festival. At some point in the workshops, I always asked the students if they knew any ghost or fairy stories either from their neighbourhoods or from their families. For the most part, the Ontario kids looked at me as if I were some kind of ghostly creature myself.
This past weekend, however, when I asked that question of the students, largely from the Northern Avalon with some from further afield, I got a very different response. Without fail, the students in my three Carbonear workshops all had local stories to share.
One student from Brigus shared a story of a ghostly dog said to haunt the barrens of the Baccalieu Trail, a phantom hound which you should hope you never meet, for to do so is a sign of impending death. Other students shared how their old elementary school in North River had been built on the site of a fairy path. Another told of how Sir William Coaker’s gravesite in Port Union is haunted by a ghostly breeze that will whip up and lock the gate behind you if dare venture in alone.
One girl told her workshop class about a group of kids who had camped out in an old abandoned stone house in Harbour Grace. They were never seen again … clearly a contemporary legend in the making!
I do not think that Newfoundland kids are more superstitious or gullible or bloodthirsty than their fellow students in Ontario. I do think, however, that the kids I met in Carbonear come from a place where stories, and storytelling, still has some kind of value.
When a student shared his or her stories of Newfoundland’s unexplained, the other students, almost without exception, all listened to hear how the story unfolded.
The ghost stories and fairy stories they shared are important because they are tied to the intangible culture and history of specific places. The towns, bays, graveyards, old railway beds, the wild and the barren places they spoke of are all places they knew as part of their experience growing up in, and around, rural Newfoundland.
The guest speaker for the conference was Tomas O Maoldhomhnaigh, Secretary General of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann. Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann is the largest group involved in the preservation and promotion of Irish traditional music, with hundreds of local branches around the world.
O Maoldhomhnaigh spoke about their “Fleadh Cheoil” or “Feast of Music” which is a huge music festival. He also spoke of their incredible successes in teaching young people traditional instruments, singing and dance, offering thousands of classes to young people every year.
Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann serves as an interesting model for what can happen when people respect the traditions of their place, and work to teach those traditions to a younger generation. A program to share traditional knowledge, art and craft with the youth of Newfoundland and Labrador could truly help some of our youth find their passion and make it work for them, and for the good of our communities.
It would also ensure that some of those old stories would live on. While the students did have tales of their own, I told many of them traditional stories from their own communities which they had never heard before. Unless there are new voices to tell those tales, those stories will become harder and harder to hear, and will eventually be lost, drifting like ghosts through the mists of time.
Dale Jarvis can be reached at info@hauntedhike.com
Tags: cultural, heritage, intangible, ireland, irish, music, newfoundland, oral, storytelling, tradition
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