
A Celebration of Storytelling & Trees
National Storytelling Week is upon us. It falls as the winter slowly starts to move to longer days and slightly warmer times, and is a moment to celebrate the power of storytelling. Here at Fruit & Nut Village, storytelling features heavily in our seasonal calendar; we have storytellers at our Winter Wassails and our Summer Solstice events. Bringing communities together to enjoy stories at our sites, surrounded by the abundance of nature, can serve to stir the soul and enliven the imagination. How often is it in modern life that people get the opportunity to hear stories told to them?
Trees & Traditions
There is a rich tradition of storytelling around trees. They have always fascinated and inspired us. In her book, Tree Wisdom, Jacqueline Paterson writes: ‘Many legends and songs tell of the affinity possible between trees and people and of how we are closely akin to them, following the same cycles throughout our lives’ span’.
Trees feature quite prominently in traditional folklore, myths, and legends, such as the tale of the Holly and the Oak King’s eternal tussle over Winter and Summer, that remind us of the continual cycle of the seasons.
In European legends, the Beech tree is associated with ancient wisdom and knowledge. We’re told that thin slices of beech wood were the first prepared surface on which words were written; the etymology of the Anglo-Saxon word ‘beech’ was boc, which became book. (1) How amazing that trees have always played such a fundamental role in how we share stories, as well as being muses for the stories we tell.
This National Storytelling Week, we wanted to highlight and celebrate the storytellers who have worked with us to share and inspire. Storytelling can help people reimagine their communities as spaces of joy and abundance, so the practice beautifully aligns with our mission, where our communities grow and are surrounded by abundant perennial food.
We asked our wonderful storyteller, Juliet, what storytelling means to her. She told us:
“I volunteer as a storyteller for Fruit & Nut Village. I’ve told stories connected to wassailing, solstice, and Halloween outdoors, often at dusk or in the dark in the lovely orchards [FNV] have created. I love the way that telling a story about the natural world or ancient traditions helps people connect with the urban nature around them. I love it when audiences get involved, so I sometimes include their ideas, or add songs or rhymes to join in with. There’s something magical about outdoor storytelling in the trees; it brings people together for a collective, fun experience.”
What’s your Favorite Story about Trees?
This National Storytelling week we invite you to take a walk amongst trees and let them inspire you to write a story, a poem or share a childhood memory.
Get involved and help us plant and care for trees by following this link for our session times: https://www.fruitandnutvillage.org.uk/events
Learn more about National Storytelling Week: https://literacytrust.org.uk/resources/national-storytelling-week/
(1) Tree Wisdom: The Definitive Guidebook to the Myth, Folklore and Healing Power of Trees, by Jacqualine Memory Paterson
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