Today is National “Tell a Story Day.” The aim of the day to get participants telling, sharing, and listening to each other’s stories. It is a celebration of the art of oral storytelling in all of its many forms, whether it be fiction or non-fiction, a tall tale, or folklore. The stories may be told from memory or from a book!
The aim of the day is to encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to share stories. This could be reading one of your favorite books or creating your own story from your imagination; it doesn’t matter, so long as you share a story. You can gather friends or family together and all read stories. A lot of schools will embrace this day as well by getting students to contribute a story or they will read a book together as a class. My 3 year old is growing up so fast, and her newest “phase” is story-telling. She has a very active imagination and is always telling her father and I how to “act” in the little plays she puts on for us and her dolls. So this was such a neat National Day to get to know!
Often around the Holidays stories are told from one generation to another, but this is a perfect day to take some time out of your day and call up a family member or friend you haven’t seen in a while and catch up on the “good old days”. Not to mention with summer road trips coming up, you may have some ample “car time” on your hands in which you should try to take a “technology break” and tell stories instead. I remember going up to our cabin every summer when I was growing up and my mom would tell my brother and I stories the whole ride, about her childhood, stories about her and my dad getting together, just anything really, and I can’t tell you how much we bonded during those times!
Storytelling really is a beautiful way for families and friends to pass on long told tales, histories, and family traditions with one another. Not only can storytelling be educational, but entertaining and inspiring as well. Most people would agree that a lot of the world’s best stories have come from real-life experiences. When you consider just how special storytelling can be, it is only right that we have a day to pay honor to this!
Written and Submitted by GSS Agent #38118
