Storytelling for Cultural Week

Ulu or Cup and Saucer depending on where you grew up

House with doorway or seagull

Jacob's ladder or Fishnet

Dog running away (actually moves)

   I was able to have the storytelling section for our Cultural Week. We weren't too sure who all would be able to make it in, so I had some ideas tucked away. We started out with String Stories, and in researching, found that these string figures are on the six continents and that most indigenous peoples had their own designs. A young Yup'ik man, David Nicholai, is in Anchorage and is hired to go around sharing stories that he has collected. There is a YouTube short clip of him and he is part of the International String Figure Association.

Broom

Little person

Crooked Knife and sharpening stone

Needle for fishnet

Father's sewing kit

Bessie came in to tell oral stories. She mostly came with just a story, sometimes asking the students what they wanted to hear. She also asked me several questions about what my grandparents and parents passed on to me. She wanted to know about medicines, if we grew our own, and what kind of foods we collected growing up. I didn't have much to share....

One area that I remembered was my grandfather saying his generation saw the most change. When he was growing up he saw the first cars come into the area he lived, forcing horses and carriages off to the side. Before he died he was taking computer classes. He saw a lot of change. Bessie liked that story as she was born at Fish Camp, and they had very little. She has seen a lot of change also.

 Ollie began her stories with the strings.

She would pause, continue, and had the kids' complete attention!

 

                            Ollie Anne and Tatiana are teaching the girls how to play see saw.

Another form of storytelling is the use of the storytelling knife and mud. Little girls are often given a knife of some kind, fancy ones of ivory can be found at dig sites, and they begin to draw in the mud as they share. Certain figures were commonly used and pictures were always drawn from above looking down.

                    Here Marie is using a cardboard knife and flour. This worked out really well.

 

Here Lillian is telling a story, putting down the knife, talking for awhile, then continuing with the picture. She was very quiet, but had the girls' attention immediately.

Bessie came in all week.