Folklore is a living part of all our lives, whether we tell an anecdote, knock on wood, knit a jumper, pass on a recipe, build a cubby house or wish on a shooting star. Many countries have government support to collect, analyse and preserve their folklore, and folklorists can be consulted on important social issues, but Australia is yet to recognise this untapped wealth.
Australia's Folklorist, Reilly McCarron
Folklore is the traditional art, literature, knowledge, and practice that is disseminated largely through oral communication and behavioral example. Every group with a sense of its own identity shares, as a central part of that identity, folk traditions–the things that people traditionally believe (planting practices, family traditions, and other elements of worldview), do (dance, make music, sew clothing), know (how to build an irrigation dam, how to nurse an ailment, how to prepare barbecue), make (architecture, art, craft), and say (personal experience stories, riddles, song lyrics). As these examples indicate, in most instances there is no hard-and-fast separation of these categories, whether in everyday life or in folklorists’ work.
About Reilly McCarron
Reilly McCarron started her business faerie bard in July 2010 following a redundancy from the ABC, having worked in various roles, primarily fortelevision, in Darwin, Canberra, and Sydney for almost thirteen years. “I all but fell into my media work” she says, “and, for the most part, loved what I was doing. But I was also quietly grooming the threads of another profession, which I planned to seamlessly switch over to at retirement age – as it turns out the ABC bumped me over to my second career earlier than expected!”
With faerie bard Reilly has woven together her passions for storytelling, folklore, harp and song, with the intention of working as a holistic healer as well as a good old fashioned entertainer. As a professional storyteller, and recently Accredited member of the Australian Storytellers Guild (NSW) Inc., her focus is currently on reclaiming fairy tales for adults and sharing their illuminating wisdom. “Before the Brothers Grimm rewrote their collected fairy tales for children, they were mostly adult stories. The Grimms published seven editions of their book Nursery and Household Tales, between 1812 and 1857, and each revision was moresanitised than the last. They began as scholarly folklorists, but financial and social pressures forced them to sift out a lot of the grown up material to make them more suitable for children so they could sell their books. Then Walt Disney took out any remaining spice and dusted them thickly with icing sugar, so what we’re left with are very different versions than what they once were.”
In one of faerie bard’s performances, entitled ‘The Real Stories Behind Popular Fairy Tales’ which combines stories with harp and singing, Reilly tells the earlier versions of well known tales, such as Sleeping Beauty and The Princess and The Frog, to adult audiences – and they have some surprising elements. But these older tales offer so much more than shock value; they are rich with wise guidance and offer deep insights into the psyche. “Folk and fairy tales are perfectly formed little stories which reveal the inner landscape of the human condition. Here Freud’s id can play out its dynamics in a safe space – consciously. So we have dark emotions and evil characters and terrible injustices, and we are able to see how the heroine or hero navigates the deep, dark enchanted woods and come to safety… or not. These tales offer us a compass and map to our own inner worlds.”
Reilly has recently completed a Graduate Diploma in Australian Folklore and Folklife Studies through Curtin University of Technology in Perth via Open Universities Australia, though is still finishing a BA before she can move on to a Masters. “Folklore is widely misunderstood and greatly undervalued in Australia. It’s really quite sad to see such a fabulous resource wasted. Folklore is a living part of all our lives, whether we tell an anecdote, knock on wood, knit a jumper, pass on a recipe, build a cubby house or wish on a shooting star. Many countries have government support to collect, analyse and preserve their folklore, and folklorists can be consulted on important social issues, but Australia is yet to recognise this untapped wealth. I feel so lucky to have started my folklore studies when I did.” The Graduate Diploma has now been withdrawn from the university system and there is currently nowhere in Australia where folklore can be studied academically.
Ms McCarron says she has always had interests which fall outside the mainstream. “I recently took up hand spinning too. I remember reading Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ wonderful book Women Who Run with the Wolves in my early 20s, and was struck by her interpretation of ‘The Red Shoes’. Estés says the handmade red shoes made by the girl at the beginning of the tale represent “a passionate life of her own design”. While it’s important to uphold your responsibilities, I think it’s equally important to weave your own handmade life – one that’s meaningful for you, even if it doesn’t make sense to everyone else.’
faerie bard is currently in production of it’s first CD aimed at mental and emotional wellbeing. ‘Sleeping Beauty and Other Tales of Dissociation’ charters the healing path of integrating lost parts of one’s Self and living a conscious life. “In time I’ll have CDs, and performances and workshops, each devoted to a particular area of mental illness.” According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, one in five people suffer from mental illness in Australia, and yet there is still much stigma attached. “These stories are not a substitute for psychology, but rather meant as a gentle accompaniment.” Reilly is working with a psychologist to light the ways in the psychic landscape with illuminating stories.
Fairy tales appear to be on the cultural radar this year. In March Sarah Gibson launched her interactive documentary ‘Re-enchantment’ at the Adelaide Film festival, and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image hosted a two-day symposium called ‘Fairy Tales Re-imagined: from werewolf to forbidden room’ in Melbourne. Several Re-enchantment short films screened on ABC television featuring prominent folklorists, psychologists and writers talking about the hidden meanings of fairy tales.
However, fairy tales for adults and for healing are not new concepts, and certainly not confined to Australia. Writers and storytellers have been reclaiming these tales for adult audiences around the world for many years, and Jungian psychology has long examined the symbolic value of such stories. Indeed, storytelling has even entered the realm of science with studies on neuroplasticity and the healing power of re-wiring the brain with new narrative. So perhaps storytelling, folklore, harp and so forth are slowly making their way into the mainstream after all.
Reilly McCarron lives with her husband near Sydney’s Blue Mountains. Her website is faeriebard.com
HOT NEWS: Reilly McCarron will be performing in association with The Australian Storytelling Guild ( NSW) at a wonderful night of storytelling on Friday Octover 28, 2011 – titled appropriately for Halloween, ‘Gruesome Horror Tales’. It is an adult storytelling evening and all are welcome. Tickets are $25 for pre-paid. Book 0410 012568 or info@faeriebard.com. The venue is the El Rocco Room – 154 Brougham Street, Kings Cross. Come along and experience first hand the wonderful art of oral storytelling!
