Sacred Glue

Stories

“Modern story tellers are the descendants of an immense and ancient community of holy people, troubadours, bards, griots, cantadouras, cantors, traveling poets, bums, hags and crazy people.”
Clarissa Pinkola Estes

There is a woman here in Birmingham, Delores Hydock, who is a great storyteller in the ancient tradition—she actually went to school to learn her trade, and performs regularly around the city. Another famous Alabama storyteller was Kathryn Tucker Windham, who lived to the age of 93, spinning yarns to the very end. Her specialty was Ghost Stories. I had the pleasure of taking my sons to see her at an old steel furnace/museum down town when they were young—she scared the heck out of all of us.

Story telling is a great Southern tradition—every family has many stories. And every family will tell you that the stories get more outlandish with each telling—ad libs and embellishments are like pickles and olives at the lunch table. They add color and flavor. My dad was a pretty good storyteller and so was his brother, Jerry. In the days before technology took over our lives, we spent long hours at the Sunday dinner table listening to the retelling of old family tales. When my sons and daughter-in-law come to my house for dinner, as they will this coming Easter Sunday, we reenact this family tradition—they tell stories from their youth, many of which I didn't know about and was blessed by my ignorance! We laugh our heads off.

I hope you have some storytellers in your family. This holiday weekend, encourage the rehashing of family stories. You'll be surprised at how much you will learn—some of it may be things you wish you hadn't learned. Stories are the holy glue that sticks us together. The bonds of family lie in the stories we have in common; stories of ancestors and old-times, stories of descendants and new times. Stories from bards, bums, hags and crazy people! What could be better!

In the Spirit,
Jane