February 26 – Tell a Fairy Tale Day

Posted on February 26, 2016

Once upon a time, people told stories orally, and the stories passed down from parents to children to grandchildren...and on and on. Of course, you know how it is – favorite stories tend to be retold the same way each time (most kids complain if you change things up!), but of course errors and changes do creep in, and stories evolve.

Some of the stories were oral histories that tended to become more magical and fantastic through the retellings. Some of them were tales of warning – don't talk to strangers, for they might be big and bad! – and some of them were myths and legends that had no basis in facts or real-life dangers at all.

Many of the tales told for generations were collected and published in the 1800s and the early 1900s by a variety of people, most famously the German Brothers Grimm. Andrew Lang published fairy tales from around the world, and author Hans Christian Andersen wrote his own (kinder, warmer) stories.

Today is a great day to try to tell a favorite fairy tale from memory. Be sure to use inflection and emotion to give the story life. Use repetition. There is a reason that magical things tend to come in threes, because little listeners love the engagement of knowing at least something of what to expect. Also, repeated phrases help kids participate as they chant along with the story teller.

Of course, it's also a good day to read fairy tales or even to watch fairy tales on videos or DVDs.

Here are some more great ideas for Tell a Fairy Tale Day!

My favorite story about a literal fairy is "Poppy:

The Adventures of a Fairy," by Anne Perez-Guerra. 

One of my favorite Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales
is "The Emperor's New Clothes."

One of my favorite stories collected by Andrew Lang
was "The Twelve Months."

Here's to a happily-ever-after kind of day!

Also on this date:

Liberation Day in Kuwait  

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day

World Pistachio Day

For Pete's Sake Day

Author Victor Hugo's birthday

Blue-jeans inventor Levi Strauss's birthday

Western showman Buffalo Bill Cody's birthday

Anniversary of a patent for a glass-blowing machine

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• February holidays
• February birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in February

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• March holidays
• March birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in March

January 12 – Happy Birthday, Charles Perrault

Posted on January 12, 2015

He's listed as the guy who wrote “Little Red Riding Hood.”

And the guy who sorta kinda invented modern fairy tales!

Charles Perrault, born in Paris, France, on this date in 1628, studied law and had a career in governmental service. He was the secretary of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres—and I gather that this was sort of like being a department head, not a lowly post.

He worked under King Louis XIV, who is the Louis called “the Great” and the king who made the lavish Palace of Versailles the seat of royal power. One of the things Perrault suggested was including 39 fountains in the gardens of Versailles, with each fountain representing one of the fables of Aesop.

When Perrault lost his post as secretary at age 67, he decided to dedicate himself to writing. At the time, “fairy stories” were all the rage among the aristocrats of France. (And we're talking about adults here.) Perrault wrote Stories or Fairy Tales from Past Times with Morals, or Mother Goose Tales. Apparently, scholars

are not sure about the origins of the stories; they may have been based on oral traditions and ancient stories, or they may have been mostly original to Perrault. One thing is sure: many of the fairy tales we are most familiar with are based on Perrault's telling.

We're talking “The Sleeping Beauty,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Bluebeard,” “Puss in Boots,” “Cinderella,” “Diamonds and Toads.”

Here's an interesting fact: The stories were claimed to be the work of author Pierre Perrault Darmancour, Perrault's son, who was 19 years old at the time of publication. However, scholars say that there is no evidence that the son wrote the stories or even collaborated on them; it seems clear that only the elder Perrault wrote the tales and then used them to introduce his son to society.

Later, when the Grimm brothers were collecting what they called “traditional German” stories to be published as fairy tales, they included Perrault's stories as well...

• Enjoy Perrault's stories.

• Here are activities and coloring pages on Perrault's tales.

Also on this date:

Educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi's birthday 

Author Jack London's birthday

Celebrating platinum and lithium 

Anniversary of first woman elected to U.S. Senate

Anniversary of establishment of first public museum in U.S.

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest pages on:

• January holidays 
• January birthdays 
• Historical anniversaries in January

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• February holidays 
• February birthdays 
• Historical anniversaries in February

January 4 – Happy Birthday, Jacob Grimm

Posted on January 4, 2014

What with the television show called “Grimm,” Jacob Grimm's name has, perhaps, never been more famous than it is now. However, he was born on this date way back in 1785, and way over in Germany.

His name is associated with fairy tales, for he and his brother Wilhelm are the Brothers Grimm. But Jacob Grimm was more than just an editor of a fairy tale collection. He was a philologist, a jurist, and a mythologist.

Let me explain those terms!

 A philologist is someone who studies language in historical sources—in other words, someone who studies old books and other old pieces of writing. It's like a combination of being a book reviewer, a historian, and a linguist.

A jurist is someone who studies, teaches, and/or practices the law. In Grimm's case, he studied and wrote about German laws throughout history and oral legal traditions.

A mythologist is someone who systematically collects and studies myths, which are stories about a group of people—where they came from, their history and gods and ancestors and heroes.

You can see, with all this study of language and stories and myths and traditions, why Grimm ended up collecting and publishing fairy tales.

Fairy tales – not just nice little stories for children!

As anyone who watches Grimm or Once Upon a Time can tell you, fairy tales aren't pretty and tidy and nice little tales meant to soothe little kids as they drift off to sleep. Our more modern versions of fairy tales are nicer and warmer and cuddlier than the original stories—but still, there are plenty of scary villains and dark creepiness and violence!

Fairy tales were originally told and heard, not written and read, and they were meant for adults as well as children. They were often stories that contained warnings of sorts—can you see that “Little Red Riding Hood” warns you not to talk to strangers? And they were often stories about the wrongs inflicted on women and children—in other words, they were meant to be by, about, and for women and children, who were relatively powerless compared to adult men.

It's hard to define what makes a story a fairy tale, as opposed to a myth, legend, fable, or simply a folktale. Even scholars who study and write about fairy tales cannot agree on one firm definition. Still, most fairy tales happen “once upon a time,” rather than in one particular time and place, and they usually involve magical beings—not always fairies, though—sometimes it's elves or dwarves or witches or giants.

It was collectors-of-tales like the Brothers Grimm who probably most solidified what is and is not considered a fairy tale, and it was the Grimms in particular who associated the tales with children. They named their highly influential 2-volume story collection Children's and Household Tales.

Enjoy fairy tales today!

There are all sorts of fairy tale activities to be found on the web:

• Here is an animated Grimm Fairy Tale website.

• Here is the Hello Kids website, which includes Grimm stories and activities.

• Here is a crafts page from DLTK that ties into Grimm fairy tales. 

Also on this date:

Spaghetti Day 

World Braille Day

Firsts for the fourth

Earth at Perihelion

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• January holidays 
• January birthdays 
• Historical anniversaries in January

And here are my boards for:

• February holidays 
• February birthdays 
• Historical anniversaries in February

March 31, 2013 - Happy Birthday, Andrew Lang

The Blue Fairy Book,

      The Red Fairy Book,

             The Green Fairy Book,

        The Yellow Fairy Book,

The Pink and the Grey and the Crimson and the Violet and the Brown and the Orange and the Olive and the Lilac Fairy Books!

Trying to list all of Scotsman Andrew Lang's books is a big order—because these twelve books are just a fraction of all the books he has published! Andrew Lang is credited with writing many articles and books on literary criticism (which means he reviewed books that other people wrote), anthropology, mythology, history, and travel. He also wrote fiction and poetry. But he is most famous for his Fairy Books of Many Colours.

Which, by the way, he didn't actually write!

Andrew Lang, born on this date in 1844, is primarily known as a collector of fairy tales and editor of the Fairy Book series. He cultivated many different sources, people who traveled about, discovering and writing down oral stories from all over the world. Lang edited the stories so that they were suitable for children, hired illustrators to depict the stories, and published them in volumes.

One of Lang's brilliant ideas was publishing the books with colored bindings that matched their titles. In this simple way Lang created a brand that people could recognize and collect, back in a time when there was very little product branding. If a family already owned two or three of his fairy books, it was quite likely that they would go on collecting each as it was published.

Andrew Lang's illustrated fairy books were hugely popular and just as hugely influential on children's literature! Many other people jumped on the bandwagon and published collections of fairy tales.

Celebrate Lang by reading fairy tales, of course.

• Here is a website with links to many of Lang's books, including the Fairy Books.

• Here is a website that displays many of H.J. Ford's illlustrations for the Lang Fairy Books. Click the pictures that you want to see in larger format!

• At the bottom of this post are two fairy crafts. 

Or...Create your own collection!

You could choose your own favorite fairy tales (from anywhere and everywhere), print them out, illustrate them, and thereby create your own Fairy Book.

Also on this date:

Easter (also here)

Freedom Day in Malta 

Cesar Chavez Day

Chemist Robert Bunsen's birthday