Why is storytelling and ritual so important?
I’ve recently started a weaving course, and am realising how much of our language around storytelling is related to fabric, one of the oldest technologies created by humans. We ‘weave’ a yarn, ‘spin’ a tale, there is a ‘rich tapestry of life’ (or the Bayeux Tapestry - a real piece of fabric over 70 metres long which tells a 1000 year old story of the 1066 conquest), we ‘lose our thread’ - all words associated with weaving. Stories have been told by people, largely women, over weaving cloth, which was so deeply important to day to day life, for thousands of years. Stories are not stories unless they are told and shared, they are inherently creative, and require at least one other person to receive them.
Humans have told stories for as long as we’ve been able to speak. Stories are how we drew our lines of history throughout the ages, passing down narratives through voice and song through generations. Nations, religions, ethnicities and cultures all have their stories which uphold their identities as a tangible and usually unique group (creation stories, revolutionary tales, historical yarns). Stories a mechanism for manifesting the teachings of religious, social and moral frameworks (Bible stories, Aesop's fables, the Greek myths…) as well as technical knowledge and learnings, stories and concepts have been created, recreated and passed down through the ages and are all still alive and present, many of them thousands of years old.
Stories have been told by people, largely women, over weaving cloth, for thousands of years. Stories are not stories unless they are told and shared, they are inherently creative, and require at least one other person to receive them.
We have our stories as individuals too. Where we were born, things that happened to us, the decisions we made, mistakes we have made and what we have learnt… these all build or create the ‘picture’ of who we are as people, our identity and a process by which we can present ourselves to others. We all know that these identities can be fluid, contextual, and that the stories we tell about ourselves change over time, sometimes intentionally, and sometimes not.
Our own stories, and the telling of them, are in some ways inextricable from our cultural and environmental contexts, and the wider stories which frame us. We often do not have agency over the wider stories which frame our national, racial, religious identities, and sometimes we don’t identify with these, even though they may partly shape us, even if it’s in the form of disagreeing, or dis-identifying with certain norms and narratives.
In fact, many of us build an identity on not agreeing, being alternative, different, radical, non-normative, and begin to form communities with others who feel the same. We begin to relate to these other people to form ‘communities’ - groups of people who share identities and stories, and come together. These communities then form rituals - a ceremony or action which has social meaning and is repeated - which create a collective identity for the group : going to temple, a book group at the pub, weekly zoom catch-ups, yearly camping trips. These rituals reinforce the community identity and a sense of belonging and continuity. They are a moment to tell the stories of the group, feel at home, and perhaps invite new people in, or say goodbye to people parting ways (We love Charles Vogl’s The Art of Community: Seven Principles of Belonging, and Priya Parker’s The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters for more on this).
A detail of the Bayeux Tapestry
What we know, consciously or unconsciously, is that storytelling and its associated rituals are an art. There is a skill and a practice at play when we create and tell stories and design enact rituals, which requires us to collaborate with others. Like any art form, it requires care and practice. The stories are important because they help us remember the lessons, ideas and meaning which bring us together - and they keep us together. Like separate threads woven into a fabric.
At Together Culture, we are building the ‘Story of Us’ this summer. We’re bringing together a small but growing group of individuals who are forming the founding membership of our community, a community of people who believe in the power of creativity, and economies of equity and care. These are people who want to participate in their communities, be a part of a culture with creativity and belonging at its heart. One which values creativity as a power, and wants to bring this power into change-making, building tangible and economic opportunities for creatives through collaboration. We have developed our ‘Living Book’ as a guidebook to this art, which is available for all of our members.
Our story will be key to the community going forwards. To find out how we are co-creating the Story of Us this summer, and how to be a part of it, take a look here.
Follow our stories on social media @togetherculture.cambridge, and click here to become a Founding Member.
