Whether we speak English, French, or both, in Canada, we are aware of the connection we have with each other. Language joins us, explains our similarities and differences and draws on a shared history. Today language is more that cultural identity, it is our link with time itself.
Tied to all aspects of life language is a force to unite, reach out and create opportunities. Social, economic and cultural tapestries are woven around this unifying source.
Families share stories describing the influences in their daily lives. They create memories all the while living within their images of self and community.
The National Film Board celebrates its 4th Rendez-vous. Between March 6th and 22nd enjoy the animated shorts and films presenting the diversity and uniqueness of the Canadian tapestry.
Be the teller,
New Year Resolutions, come and go and so does time. Peoples' lives are riddled with beginnings. Familylore tells the stories of those beginnings. The first time you met your husband, the first time your parents met. How are these stories told if not between family and friends.
The why of it is not important. Its the telling that connects us to each other and the way we reach out. Remember that first day in a new job? What was going on, who were the people in the office, what were your responsibilities? Who spoke to you first and what did they ask? Unspoken these moments are but fillers in space and time. But shared, told and reflected upon they become the beginnings of stories that enrich our lives and become part of our Familylore.
Be the teller,
Received my Holiday Season gifts from my eldest sister yesterday. It arrived, a brown cardboard box, quite plain in appearance but inside years of memories converged. This treasure trove of gifts were the articulation of memories that spanned over three decades.
Amongst the treasures, a weaver had recreated my snowy owl perched on a twig. It had attracted my sister's eye at the Ottawa Weavers and Knitters show. It told me she remembered I had regular visits from an owl very much like it at my hobby farm in Pense Sasktachewan in 1975. I still feel the cold of the prairie, I still hear the deafening quiet, still see the glaring white snow and the sight of this great white owl sitting majestically on the same pole everyday just outside my farm house.
Art galleries have been my favorite sources for inspiration. But it is the gift shop that provides the item or image you can take home. My sister includes every year a wall calendar. It always depicts some master painter, it could be impressionists, or modern, it might even be medieval tapestries. Whatever the theme it conveys my true passions as wide as they are. And only a sister would know. This year it was Gustave Klimpt. Along the same idea were cards, portraits by Klimpt and another set of cards portraying the same medieval tapestry from my calendar of 2007. Hidden deep in the box were humbugs by Robertson, and chocolates from Stubbe's. All my favorites, all precious, all defining a memory and bringing it to light to be shared again.
I wish you and yours the opportunity of sharing your stories over the next few weeks. Make giftgiving one that creates stories in your Familylore.
Be the teller,
Collecting Familore can be an adventure. Every family has its own way of doing things. The way they share their memories, the times at which they tell these memories. Styles may vary but the sharing most often takes place in a time of celebration, a time when members of the family, friends come together.
If you were to select a time for collecting, the Festive Season would be a wonderful choice. It has a unifying thread running through it. Family members and friends make a special effort to be together. Time itself becomes more fluid and we give ourselves permission to relish in each others company.
Remembrances, memories, shared experiences become the reason for being together. The cost is minimal and it may enhance your holidays in ways you cannot imagine.
Whether you invite family and friends to your place or you go to theirs, you can be the collector. There is a magical atmosphere attached to the holiday season. We feel a connection to our past that often is forgotten the rest of the year. The coming ofthe New Year looms heavy on our conciousness. Hopes, dreams, fears and joys remain closer to the surface. Make space in your activities to encourage the telling. Remember to value the stories shared, they are pieces of the puzzle that is your Familore.
Be the teller,
Stories abound following an extended break from blogging. Never far from my thoughts, familore and how these stories come about have multiplied as they will do.
My nephew got married yesterday at Columbia University in N.Y. A few days earlier his mother, my sister was leaving to participate at this special event. I reminded her that it was because of her son we had shared a concert. It was "Foreigner" at the National Art Center. The audience, middle age+, a wave of white and gray haired. At the finale everyone on their feet singing along with the band. Rocking to the music, we laughed at the passage of time, the ability of lyrics to bring back memories and at ourselves for having the power to enjoy it.
My publishing schedule for this fall will be every Sunday.
Now sit back, relax and remember Foreigner
There was a time when the oral tradition of storytelling was the only way in which stories, be they factual or made up were transmitted throughout the generations by the small pieces of information shared. One major reason for this oral tradition was the inability to read and write. If a picture is worth a thousand words then it would be fair to say that the ability to write those words give you the power to express any picture you can imagine. Over the past several centuries stories that remain powerful often speak to heros, fairytales, fables, and tales of the weak overcoming oppression. These stories remain to a great extend because they were written down and read out loud to generations of children who then shared them with their children and so on and so on.... This tradition in the form of oral stories often originated from letters, diaries, journals, even songs...
Family stories have this power when shared and cherished. Such a treasure trove of family stories makes it possible to create your own familylore, those stories that define your family's history, your family's experiences. Be your family's storyteller, the chronicler who recognises and expounds on the uniqueness of your family. Begin or expand your familylore.Share in the Family Literacy legacy, visit
