Once upon a time, we shared our stories as a way to share our knowledge to help us all go forward together, to learn, to know what was safe and acceptable, and what wasn’t. It was the way we grew as people and survived. We shared our stories, we heard them, helped where needed, and we all moved on. It provided a cultural framework for sharing our ways of being.
Stories had many purposes in our communities:
- Established origin of life and values
- Education and life lessons
- Healing
- Humor
- History
- Bring Understanding
- Structure to our lives – understand our place in the world
There are many other purposes of story that have been used in our communities, however for many years, we were silenced and were not able to share our stories. Silence then became a way of survival, of showing strength, of hiding shame, of silencing our way of being.
We need to share our stories to help our communities and those who will come after; to once again learn from our stories, honor our stories, and help us all grow forward.
Resource
Native Daughters – Native Storytellers Connect the Past and The Future: http://cojmc.unl.edu/nativedaughters/storytellers/native-storytellers-connect-the-past-and-the-future