Sharing Wisdom with Storytelling

This month, Primary and Lower School students explored how Indigenous cultures use storytelling to communicate values and pass down traditional ecological knowledge. Silvermoon LaRose, a Narragansett Tribe member and Assistant Director of the Tomaquag Museum in Exeter, Rhode Island, visited Fay to share stories from her community.

Silvermoon explained how the oral tradition of storytelling allows stories to evolve over time and remain relevant. After sharing stories about the creation of the world and why turtles hibernate, she pointed that while some traditional stories may include fantastical elements, they also contain factual knowledge—for instance, birds flying south for the winter or turtles hibernating in mud. “Whether or not my story is completely true, it contains facts, and these facts are valuable because they teach us traditional ecological knowledge,” she shared. Through storytelling, essential knowledge about the natural world was passed down in engaging ways that made it more memorable.

Traditional stories also convey cultural values, ensuring they are preserved. In one creation story Silvermoon shared, a mother sacrifices herself to form the earth. “If I come from a community that believes the Earth was made by a mother giving herself to take care of us, I’m going to view the earth as a mother,” she said, adding that this perspective fosters a cultural respect and reverence for the land.

During her visit to Fay, Silvermoon joined the second grade class to teach a traditional game called Hubbub, or the Bowl Game, historically played in indigenous communities. Students created their own game pieces to bring home, connecting them even further with this tradition.