The Art of Oral Storytelling | Roots and Runes- April
- Lady Shannon Garza
- Apr 5
- 3 min read
There was a time when stories weren’t written down.
They were told.
Passed from voice to voice. From one generation to the next. Carried not in books—but in memory, in laughter, in the way someone leaned in just before the best part.
Storytelling wasn’t just entertainment. It was how history lived. How lessons were taught. How people stayed connected to those who came before them.
The Storytellers
Long before printed pages, there were storytellers—bards, performers, keepers of memory.
They traveled from place to place, sharing tales of heroes, heartbreak, magic, and truth. And with every telling, the story shifted slightly—shaped by voice, by audience, by time.
But it never disappeared.
Because stories were never meant to stay in one place.
They were meant to be carried… and shared.
The Stories We Carry
If you think about it… we still do this.
Some of the most meaningful stories in our lives were never read from a page.
They were told to us.
My dad was a natural storyteller. He had this way of pulling you in—completely—and holding you there, hanging on every word. He could take the simplest story and turn it into something unforgettable.
There was one he used to tell about an old friend who had moved to a new town with his wife. She was bored, didn’t know anyone, and her husband told her she should go door to door and meet the neighbors.
It’s such a simple story on its own.
But the way he told it… it was perfect. Hilarious. Timed just right.
We begged him to tell it over and over again growing up.
He’s no longer with us…but we still tell that story.
We share it when we’re together. We laugh at the same parts. And now—it’s being passed down to the next generation.
That’s storytelling.
Still Being Told Today
My sister has started doing something really special.
Whenever she’s with my grandmother—my dad’s mom—and they begin talking about old stories, she records them. Moments, memories, pieces of our family history.
She’s started sharing them so our family can keep them. So we can revisit them, hear them again, and share them with each other.
Because these are the stories that connect us—across generations, across time, across every gathering where they’re told again.
April’s Focus: Oral Tradition
This month, in our Roots and Runes Journey, we’re stepping into the world of oral storytelling.
Not just the stories themselves…but the way they were told.
Singers and Tales (audio)
Storytelling Around the World (print companion)
These selections explore the rhythm, performance, and preservation of stories across cultures—how they were shaped by voice, and why that still matters today.
If you’d like to experience them for yourself:
🎧 Listen with Singers and Tales:
📖 Explore Storytelling Around the World: https://bookshop.org/a/118057/9798765141090
And while we may not gather around traveling bards anymore…
We still have ways to listen.
Platforms like Libro.fm allow stories to be told aloud, shared, and carried forward—supporting independent bookstores like Faebles along the way.
The medium has changed.
But the heart of storytelling hasn’t.
A Question to Carry With You
If you gathered with family today…
What stories did you share?
The ones you’ve heard a dozen times. The ones that still make you laugh. The ones that somehow get a little better with every telling.
What memories were made—that you’ll carry forward from this day?
Maybe this is the story someone tells next year.
Thank you for being part of this journey.
I hope you’re enjoying it as much as I am.
-Shannon
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