Tea, biscuits and a good tale warms hearts

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The 13th annual Vancouver International Storytelling Festival entertained and delighted audiences from Nov. 19 to 21 and boasted a wide array of international voices and an excellent variety of Aboriginal storytellers and performers, including David Campbell, Wayne Lavallee, Skeena Reece, and Kinnie Starr.

At the opening night show, The Weaving of Stories, a full house was treated to the songs and stories of Gabriel George, grandson of the late Chief Dan George. Gabriel George, whose ancestral name is Tsits Waun Nuth, was born on the Burrard Reserve in what is now North Vancouver. Currently studying theatre at the University College of the Fraser Valley, George learned to dance, sing, speak and act through his family's dance troupe, Children of Takaya (Wolf).

George welcomed the audience on behalf of the Coast Salish people and told them of the rich Aboriginal tradition of passing down history and life lessons through storytelling.

"I feel very lucky to have grown up learning these stories and dances," he said. George shared many songs and stories with the audience, including tales about creation, nature, animal guides and peace.

Later in the evening, Michael Kusugak took the stage. Kusugak is from Repulse Bay in the Northwest Territories, and grew up in a very traditional northern way- living in igloos in winter and traveling by dog sled. As a young man, Kusugak enjoyed writing stories and poems, but had never considered himself an author until meeting famed children's writer, Robert Munsch, who encouraged him to pursue a career. Kusugak's memories from his childhood inspire the stories in the many books he's since published.

Kusugak told a story he learned from his grandmother, who used to tell him stories every night. It was the story of a young orphaned boy in the care of a family who mistreated him terribly. They did not give him enough to eat and made him sleep with the sled dogs every night. His job each day was to pound the seal fat into oil for the lamps. One day, a man arrived and became a big brother to the boy, taking him to live in his igloo. He helped make the boy strong and healthy and changed his life forever. The tale had the audience on the edge of their seats and the "twist" at the end had everyone shouting with laughter and surprise.

"And the moral of the story," said Kusugak, "is to never be mean to little kids, because you never know how they might grow up."

On Saturday afternoon, the Sasquatch room in the Vancouver museum was turned into a cozy kitchen for an event called "Canned Milk: Kitchen Table Stories." A small table was set up in the corner of the room, with tea and biscuits and jam. The host, Ivan Coyote, encouraged the performers to share stories in a natural way with the audience, just like they would if they were sitting relaxing in their kitchen.

Sharon Shorty was one of the performers at the table. Shorty is from the Tlingit, Northern Tutchone and Norwegian people. She is from the Raven Clan and was raised with the storytelling tradition of her southern Yukon community.

Shorty began by telling the story of the giant owl that terrorized a village, and how a crippled but quick-thinking grandmother saved them all. She then got the audience to join her in singing and doing the hand gestures for a lullaby about the giant owl. Afterwards she told the group that the words in English were, "Go to sleep or giant owl's gonna come and scratch your eyes out!"

Shorty brought her beadwork with her to Vancouver so that she could work on it during the performance, but her needles were taken away from her at the airport. She lamented that she could not sew while listening to the others' stories. She told the audience, "If you do something with your hands, like sewing, when you hear a story, then the next time you do that activity you'll be able to remember the story again."

Richard Van Camp was also at the kitchen table that afternoon. Van Camp is a proud memer of the Dogrib (Tlicho) Nation from the Northwest Territories. He has written many books and stories, and teaches creative writing for Aboriginal students at the University of British Columbia. Van Camp recalled how during his childhood, his family, and guests sat around the kitchen table drinking tea, eating bannock and telling stories. "Us kids were a part of that," he said. "We were always made welcome, and that's how we learned to listen and to tell our own stories."

Van Camp told a number of stories to the group, including his favourite "miracle story", as well as the story of the giant moccasins, which featured a very hungry sasquatch-a perfect fit for the museum room, filled with sasquatch and "Bigfoot" memorabilia.

At the end of the performance, the performers gave away the remaining jam and biscuits, sending patrons away with full bellies, as well as full hearts.