The Importance of Storytelling
Stories are a living history of our peoples collected over many lifetimes and passed down as a birthright and an inheritance. They have always been important in educating our youth and as a form of entertainment to get us through long winters and long nights in the forests and on the prairies. Storytelling is one of the few human traits that are truly universal across all cultures and throughout all of human history. You can find evidence of stories, legends, and folktales in every community across the face of the earth. The practice of storytelling is central to Indigenous cultures because stories are one of the things that sustain communities, validates communal experiences, and nurture kinship relationships and the sharing of knowledge.
Storytelling allows us, as individuals and as members of our respective communities, to engage with the ideas of our ancestors while helping ourselves become better people today. By learning from stories and storytelling, we become part of the process decolonization so that we can hope to become who we are meant to be as indigenous people.
Storytelling allows us, as individuals and as members of our respective communities, to engage with the ideas of our ancestors while helping ourselves become better people today. By learning from stories and storytelling, we become part of the process decolonization so that we can hope to become who we are meant to be as indigenous people.
