Old stories, new residents
Heritage foundation collecting folk tales from immigrants
The St. John’s Local Immigration Partnership (LIP) and the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (HFNL) are coming together to collect old stories from new residents.
The project is looking to collect folk stories from immigrants — recent and long settled — to share the diversity of oral traditions that exist in the region and highlight many of the similarities between people who “come from away.”
The LIP found that immigrants were interested in sharing their folk stories, so they connected with HFNL to start building a project that will become a printed and online booklet.
“When European settlers first arrived in Newfoundland and Labrador, they brought stories from their old countries,” HFNL folklorist Dale Jarvis stated in a recent news release. “This is part of the reason we have such a unique oral tradition here in the province with our stories of faeries and superstitions. But that process didn’t stop; new people coming here are bringing their own traditional stories as well, and adding to the richness of our local lore.”
“I don’t know what’s out there. I’m really excited to learn what stories people have,” says Jarvis, who explained they are looking for folk tales, legends, faeries tales, urban legends and religious stories.
“We’re more alike than we are different,” he says.
He hopes this project will help to bridge the gap between cultures and help people to overcome the suspicion of those who come from somewhere different, saying, “a lot of these stories are fairly universal.”
“The city cares about being a welcoming place for people, not just to visit, but to live,” says Dave Lane, councillor at large and chair of the economic development, tourism, and public engagement standing committee, on behalf of the City of St. John’s and LIP.
“The idea we’re really excited about is that if people bring their stories, not just personal stories, but cultural stories, we’ll build a rich and diverse community,” Lane says about the project, which he hopes will be shared at city hall when it is completed.
Lane said he hopes this project will help newcomers feel integrated and valued in the community.
Jarvis hopes to have the collection of stories done by the end of September and a first draft of the booklet ready to present at a conference at the end of October about how people adapt heritage.
“I think for the participants, I wanted to honour their contribution and say, ‘OK, you can come to Canada with your stories and we want to honour those stories,’” Jarvis says about what he hopes those involved will gain from the project, adding that he hopes as the stories are collected they will learn a bit about the people telling them.
Anyone interested in contributing a story can do so online by emailing ich@heritagefoundation.ca or by calling 1-888-7391892 ext. 2.