The Story of The International World Story Telling Day

Many of you might have heard the opportunity of hearing fantastic and thrilling stories from your moms and grandmas in your childhood days. Perhaps you are also telling fairy tales to your own children or grandchildren, to make them cheerful and sleep.

But do you know that the art of oral story telling has evolved into an ‘International World Story Telling Day’ that falls on 20 th, March, 2009?’

The International World Story Telling Day is celebrated on 20 th day of March, 2009, on the date of spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, which is the first day of autumn equinox in the Southern Hemisphere.

The roots of the International World Story Telling Day may be traced to Sweden, where it began in the year 1991-1992 as a National Day of Story Telling. However, thereafter it was not pursued with vigor and enthusiasm. But people in Sweden sporadically continued to celebrate the day.

Thereafter in the year 2001, the story telling day was celebrated in Australia; then it spread to some countries of Europe particularly in Holland in the year 2004, which witnessed a sudden celebration of story telling Day by some 300 children.In the year, 2007, the International Story Telling Day was celebrated in Newfoundland, Canada, in a grand manner, signifying the launching of the International World Story Telling Day, in the North American continent. Now the International World Story Telling Day is celebrated in about 25 countries around the world, in five continents.

The International World Story Telling Day signifies the art of oral story telling. It has been traditionally in practice for centuries through oral communication. In fact, the art of oral story telling has been conveyed and transferred from one generation to another. But the art of oral story telling has lost its relevance and importance due to the growth of written literature as well as due to the evolution of visual media.

On the International World Story Telling Day people narrates their stories in their own language, which means stories are told in various languages throughout the day as well as the night. The underlying idea in celebrating the ‘International World Story Telling Day’ is to establish contact, exchange different ideas, to carry on the legend of story telling among various people at the International level.

During the celebration of the International World Story Telling Day, each year, a theme is selected on which the story tellers have to narrate their oral stories to the audience, especially the children. From the year 2004 onwards, the International World Story Telling Day has been celebrated with a particular theme for story telling on every year.The themes for the International World Story Telling Day from year 2004 onwards were as follows: 2004 : Birds, 2005:Bridges, 2006 :The Moon, 2007:The Wanderer, 2008: Dreams and the theme of the current year 2009  is ‘Neighbors’.

The International World Story Telling Day has a logo that was designed by Mats Rehnman of Fabula Story Telling, Stockholm. The logo has a combination of five children, signifying perhaps the congregation of children from five continents. Therefore, those who celebrate ‘The International World Story Telling Day’ may use the logo but giving due credit to Mats Rehnman.        

The art of story telling has not developed much because it has remained mostly a private affair between grandma and children or between parents and their children. Another impediment that has prevented the growth of the art of oral story telling is that people have been mostly shy in nature to narrate their stories in public.

Therefore, on the eve of the International World Story Telling Day, we should take concrete steps to develop the art of oral story telling by forming clubs, by taking individual initiatives, by interacting with your own children, besides encouraging them to tell their own stories.