The oral story I was told by my mother from Tigania-Meru.
I think I was about 4-5yrs old. It customary for parents to tell their children stories as they waited the food to be cooked. Most of the dry beans like Ncaabi, "(black beans) or Ncuu (pigeon peas) took at least 2hrs to boil and get soft. My mother was an intelligent, intuitive woman and a good story teller. The traditional Ameru story was told to all children as part of the pride of heritage. The story was actually based on emphasising the unique qualities of the Ameru people: Intelligence, Patriotism, bravery, hard work, among others.
The telling had a format. The story teller and the recipient were to be attentive to each other. There a promise that if you are told a story you must pay back by telling your own story, even if it is just two sentences. This was a great way of making the children want to listen, and at a very early age, you learn to summarize stories. To me when I went to school my best class activity was to tell stories which we did as a class. I remember standing in front of the class in grade 3 telling some of the stories my mother told me.
The story was usually told in a response and call format. The story teller narrates and the lister had to keep responding by saying a word that showed that one was not asleep but attentively listening, usually one responded by saying, "iii" a kind of throat sound. for start and then afterwards one would respond by saying "eee"
The story teller began by saying, Ancia-ri, or karaja-ri" (and it cam to pass).
And I said, "iii"
Mother- The Ameru lived very in far away lands.
Myself-
So my mother starts, Karaja -ri and I said, -iii
So the story in sho...
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... great offering to Murungu for thanks giving towards this successful escape, was named "Gaita" one who sacrifices for others. The second volunteer was named "Kauna" the one had set himself ready for the sacrifice.
The wife of the first volunteer for the offering to "Murungu" was called Rigiri".
To this day the names Kaume (Tigania) or Koome (I
menti) and Gaita are popular boys names.
Nowadays many people like to call their,institutions associated with intelligence eg. schools and book shops, Koome Njwe, referring to the intelligence of the Ameru and especially to their leader who brought them out of the far away lands to freedom.
Enjoy the story and may you be inspired to love freedom, cherish dignity, to be patriotic to your community, and above to honor God.
Many thanks to my mother who passed on to me this great heritage of my people the Ameru.
Not too long ago, grandparents will tell family stories to their grandchildren. Parents will also tell their children family stories. Those family stories will contain family history, struggle and heroism of family members. Also, those stories will pass down the family values and traditions to the next generations. Now a days, most parents read stories from books to their children. Family story telling is an almost lost tradition because it is not practiced anymore. In her short story “Everyday Use”, Alice walker illustrates the importance of keeping a tradition alive other than preserving it.
about one book? (Fege, 10). ?In Colorado kids were eager to hear the fascinating tales of
Preschoolers love to hear stories. Read to them loudly for four or five minutes. Carefully choose stories which can arouse interest in the minds of preschooler, so that he/she should insist on hearing the rest of the story. Small pictorial stories about natural phenomenon like rain, solar system, funny detective stories and animal stories can be used. Read continuously for a few minutes, carefully stop at that point where preschooler’s inquisitiveness will be aroused and then give them some time to relax. Wait till they request to hear the rest. Initially allow preschoolers to interrupt your reading with their own questions but slowly decrease the number of questions that can be asked in each session. Encourage them to ask questions at the end of each session. Don’t plan sessions longer than 5 minutes. Gradually, increase the time period of ea...
... and whose heartfelt "God bless you" has been your only reward. The midnight sky and the silent stars have been the witnesses of your devotion to freedom and of your heroism.
The question “Why do we tell stories” does not have one simple answer as any individual may have a different response to the question based on their background but, this essay will attempt to form a cohesive answer to the question by responding to three statements, (1)“Some texts seem to be fighting for or against social change or political attitudes or traditions. Choose and discuss the fight for or against this change.”, (2)“Humans are the only animals who seek to understand themselves.The search of this understanding is a theme in many pieces of literature.”, (3) “Lord Acton once said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The use and abuse of power is a recurring theme. Discuss how this theme is developed.” ;
One great story my family has told me is my family's history. My maternal grandmother's parents came to the United States from Ukraine by boat around 1906 or 1907. They initially settled in Export, PA, because they had relatives and friends living there. My grandmother was born in 1921 and was the seventh of eight children. A year after she was born, they moved to Warren, OH, where they stayed until my grandmother graduated from high school. The family's religion was Ukrainian Orthodox. My grandmother grew up speaking Ukrainian and English. Ukrainian was spoken in the home, and English was spoken at school. My grandmother started kindergarten at the age five knowing no English. She picked up the English language from her classmates. My grandmother's family did not own a car. Every Easter, they walked about seven miles to go to church. My grandmother grew up during the depression. She was the only girl in her family to own a doll from a store. All of her sister's dolls were homemade.
Kindergarten is the first memory that I have of Native Americans. In the month of November, I was taught about how
In the Maasai society, genital cutting is a rite of passage from childhood to adulthood, and both men and women go through the process of circumcision. As society ages, opinions on cultural norms change. This is true for the Maasai society, where the views on female circumcision have and are changing. Female circumcision is classified into three categories, and defined by the World Health Organization, Type I is the removal of the foreskin on the vagina, Type II is the removal of the clitoris, and Type III is the removal of all external genitalia with the stitching or narrowing of the vaginal opening (“New Study”). Traditionally in the Maasai society, women underwent Type II or Type III circumcision. Written in 1988, “The Initiation of a Maasai Warrior,” by Tepilit Ole Saitoi, and is an autobiographical story of Saitoti’s circumcision in his initiation to a warrior. Though his story mainly focuses on the male circumcision part of the Maasai society, women’s circumcision and other basic traditions are discussed. Throughout the short story, the topic of circumcision and the rite of passage, both long- standing traditions in the Maasai society, are central themes.
Sipe highlights five different expressive engagements—dramatizing, talking back, inserting, and taking over—that children portray during story book read- alouds. He believes that teachers must encourage these behaviors in children because it shows participation and it inspires children to take over the story. Some of these expressive engagements are reasonable while some serve as a disfavor to children’s learning. On page 482, he gives instruction on how teachers can implement the expressive engagements in their classroom. Sipe claims, “the first type of expressive engagement, dramatizing, can be encouraged through dramatic reenactment” (481). This can be problematic for fairy tales such as “The Juniper Tree”. This story about a stepmother killing her stepson by beheading him then cooking him in a stew, and a little boy turned into a singing bird who then later kills his murderer by “…dropping a millstone on her head and crush[ing] her to death” (252) can be gruesome for children to dramatize. Another expressive engagement that Sipe mentions is “inserting”. Sipe claims that if children are encouraged to insert themselves or other people around them into the story that they are reading, they can exercise their power over the tales. Through this process, Sipe claims “children in process of becoming one with the story, to the extent of assuming their stance as fellow characters with equal agency and presence in the story” (478). The story of the little boy in “The Juniper Tree” suggest a different view about mechanically inserting characters in a story. The little boy must learn about what each of his family members did to contribute to his death. When the little boy died, he did not know anything about the causes of his death and the things that happened after. He had to learn that his “mother, she slew [him]”, his father
For centuries, children stories have been a valuable tool in teaching lessons and morals. Like most stories that one was read as a child, there lies a life lesson that the author is trying to portray. Whether it was told orally like the story Beowulf or written by an author like Chaucer who wrote The Canterbury Tales, there are life lessons that are being taught through the characters and their challenges that they endure.
Stories are important for many reasons. Not only do we as human beings rely on telling each other stories to pass time, get our points across, or share memories we have but also to teach lessons. Many stories that are told are about something that has happened to someone personally, or a story that was passed on to them by another person. Regardless, stories have been used to help us as humans communicate since the beginning of time. Story telling has been an extreme aid to our history as we pass tales on from one generation to the next. Stories have impacted me ever since I was a little girl. I was told stories not only to get me to fall asleep every night but also as lessons for me when I did something wrong. Stories with morals were also told to me so I could learn from them. Many stories told to me even to this day help me learn and grow as a person. I myself even tell stories of my own in my writing along with stories I have learned from other...
Africa is the second-largest and most tropical continent in the world. Africa is a continent that has been broken down into many countries. Due to the large amount of countries established in Africa it causes this continent to be very diverse within peoples skin color, religion, and language. Throughout this paper, I will be focusing exclusively on the similarities that are found amongst the Maasai and Tuareg people. In the books, The World of a Maasai by Tepilit Ole Saitoti and A Nomad in Two Worlds by Ahmed Kemil, they both try to dissect the cultures between these two communities. Both of these authors execute this by looking at the herding practices, gender relations and childhood socialization founded between these two societies. Barbara Worley’s manuscript, Tuareg Nation, will better enable me to further point out the similarities founded between these two groups.
I am writing this paper because I was assigned to write it as a class project. Along the way I realized the importance of sharing the real meanings of all these stories. Stories are important because in the society we live in things are constantly changing. Fairytales change but the base of the story always remain the same no matter how many times it has been retold. It’s important to reveal the true meanings of these stories, even with its dark characteristics, because the world is dark .Children need to know that there are people that have told stories relatable to what they are going through. Fairytales help the development of children; it helps their maturity as they confront someone else’s tough situations, instilling hope of a more positive ou...
“The fairy tale, which to this day is the first tutor of children because it was once the first tutor of mankind, secretly lives on in the story. The first true storyteller is, and will continue to be, the teller of fairy tales. Whenever good counsel was at a premium, the fairy tale had it, and where the need was greatest, its aid was nearest. This need was created by myth. The fairy tale tells us of the earliest arrangements that mankind made to shake off the nightmare which myth had placed upon its chest.”(Walter Benjamin). For generations fairy tales have brought happiness to hundreds of people. Through childhood to adults, people still enjoy the mysteries of fairytales. In society, fairytales are a great way of connecting
Storytelling has always been a form of entertainment that people have used for centuries now. Stories are often said to strengthen a community and create harmony. They often reflect the beliefs of the people who tell them. As for any story, the popularity of the story depends on whether those listening approve of the values underlying it. By telling and listening to stories, people confirm their ideas about the world around them. Things that people find scary, upsetting or desirable all found their way into the stories because people want to be assured that other people around them are thinking along the same lines (Myths and Legends). There have been many variations of storytelling. There are stories told through drawing, through actions,