storytelling sacred stories stories
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Tying Together The Threads Of A Story by Louise Laux
Quite a few years ago, I decided to make tied quilts for my kids from old jeans. I had been saving my husband’s discarded jeans for years, and adding to the stash from my kids and other family and friends. I used a Golden Book as my template to make the blocks. I figured these…
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“All work and no play make Jack a dull boy” by Jim Dennis
Remember the movie “The Shining” starring Jack Nicholson? Now that is a Jack tale! Film historian Geoffrey Cocks notes that this film contained many illusions to fairy tales, especially Hansel and Gretel and stories about the Big Bad Wolf. Nicholson’s character, Jack (of course) Torrance is identified as the wolf in this situation. Bruno Bettelheim…
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The Mouse Tower by Jim Dennis
Once when I was traveling on the train from Cologne to Frankfurt, we passed a tower in the Rhine just outside the town of Bingen. It was the “Mouse Tower” I was told, a place where evil was taken from the countryside. It looked like any other stone tower I had seen while traveling through…
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Poor Business Practices of the Devil by Jim Dennis
“The devil told the architect “I can build that bridge for you….but then I own the soul of the first living creature that crosses it.” So the devil ends up with a rooster, or a goat, a dog, a chicken….I think he should really work on his contracts. Make it more specific. Like specify what…
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The Matchmaker by Carol Bedner
China has many legends, customs and taboos that have been followed for thousands of years. One legend that originated in the Tang Dynasty(618-907 AD) is that of the old man under the moon. Known as the Matchmaker, Yue Lao is a Chinese deity in charge of marriage between a man and woman. Legend states the Matchmaker…
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Traditional Storytelling in China by Carol Bedner
As early as 1500 BC stories were being recorded in China. A famous poem of the Han dynasty (BC 202-AD 220) was “Far in the Sky”, popularized again in the Tang dynasty (618-907AD) as “The Cowherd and The Weaving Girl”. The retelling of this story exists today in many forms. The story is the basis…
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The University of Ordinary People by Carol Bedner
Storytelling had an impact on the daily life of the Chinese townspeople as it served as the "university of ordinary people". Culture and knowledge was communicated in an entertaining and simple way. In the past storytellers would be invited to perform for a specific time, one day to several weeks, in a private home, usually…
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Pingtan Storytelling by Carol Bedner
I read an article* by Mark Bender on meaning and performance in traditional Chinese Pingtan storytelling. He stated that certain aesthetic principles guide the storyteller in their performance. These include credibility, intricate description, strongness, flavor and compelling interest. One pervasive concern among the storytellers and the audience is the quality…
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My Tour de France by Louise Laux
During the first part of the semester in Multicultural Folktales II, I focused on the story of Beauty and the Beast, or La Belle et la Bête. Although it has roots in classical mythology the story as we know it now originated in France, the country my family is from. I decided to focus my culture area…
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My Search for Beauty Amid the Beasts by Louise Laux
I like to do things the right way: traditionally, methodically, meticulously, perfectly, and . . .differently. That it is “different” is one of the things about “Beauty and the Beast” that I like. Most folktales came from an oral tradition passed down through ages around camp or hearth fires…
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You Don’t Know Jack by Jim Dennis
Who says I don’t know Jack? Jackhammer, Jack O’Lantern, Applejack, Carjack, Hijack, Union Jack, Jack in the Box, Jackpot, the Jack of Hearts…Clubs…Diamonds…Spades. The name “Jack” is unique in the English language for the frequency of its use as a verb and a noun for many common objects and actions. An article in the Encyclopedia…
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Jack the Baptist? by Jim Dennis
What if the beautiful Salome performed her erotic “Dance of a Thousand Veils,” to receive, on a platter, the head of Jack the Baptist? The name Jack is presumed to have originated as a nickname for those men named John. And before that in Hebrew times, Jacob could have been known as “Jack”. John is…