News
Storytelling Day „Neighbours"
10.03.2009
Storytelling Day is held on March 20th, this year´s theme is "Neighbours".
Programme of the International Storytelling Day is:
19.00 Opening
19.15-21.30 storytellers Piret Päär from Estonia and Liesma Lagzdiņa and Līga Reitere from Latvia share their tales. The stories in Latvian will be translated into Estonian. Musicians perform together with the storytellers.
21.30 Welcoming spring in the Viljandi Castle Hills and tasting the home-made pastries that people have brought with them.
22.00-~02.00 Dance session conducted by Estonian and Latvian musicians. Several dances will be taught together with visiting musicians and dancers from Rīgas Danču Klubs in Riga.
The World Storytelling Day is celebrated on March 20, the vernal equinox. This year's theme is „Neighbours". Neighbours are both the people living in the house next to us and our neighbouring nations in the geographical and cultural sense. As the saying goes, a good neighbour is a found treasure. Even though Estonia shares a border with Latvia, it often seems that Estonians know very little about Latvians. Thus, the Storytelling Day in the Estonian Traditional Music Center is dedicated to Latvia. Both Estonian and Latvian storytellers share their tales, musicians perform and when the night falls, a dance session is held where both Estonian and Latvian dances are be taught to open a dance dialogue between the two nations. The event is open to everyone.
In 2002, Swedish storytellers started the tradition of celebrating the International Storytelling Day. During one day and night, as many people as possible around the world are invited to tell and listen to stories in as many languages as possible. As a result of this, a huge amount of positive energy is created because people have always believed that one can not do harm while telling stories...