Slavica Janeslieva

 

          ... Storry Telling, 2000/2001...

"The basic characteristics of the religion of the old Slavs could be synthesized into the following three: animalism, magic and a cult of the predecessors, which is the most important one... Their experiences and their knowledge have been preserved in our folk literature." Kiril Penushliski Among the Macedonian people there is a tradition of telling and retelling a large number of legends, tales and stories and thus passing them on from one generation to the next. The stories I am trying to tell you are about my family, which I have heard from my grandparents, both from my grandmothers and my grandfathers. Let me ask you something? When somebody tells you a story what is it you remember? Do you remember the exact words the narrator used or in your mind do you create your own "picture" about the story? And do you use your own words when you retell that picture? In the Balkans nothing is as simple as it seems. I believe that both family histories and family stories are a proof of that.