Drawing Contest
| „When I was a girl we went to listen to our grandfather. The old man used to tell us stories. We asked him: „Grandpa tell us a story.“ „No“ he said, „Telling you stories makes me tired.“ There were many of us. We sat down. „Well, now let´s tell a story“ he said. At first I will tell you about the giant ....“
This is how doña Asunta (born in 1931) remembers her childhood was like when the older people used to tell stories to the children in the afternoons and nights in Baures. And this is how the stories, which were usually told in Baure, were passed on from one generation to the next. Since the educational reform in the sixties of the 20th century, adults avoided to speak Baure to their children let alone teach them their language. The reason was the punishment waiting for children who spoke Baure in school. |
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This is why today there are only a few Baure-speakers left and only some of them remember stories and know how to tell them.The myths and stories of people constitute an important part of their culture. That is why we dedicate ourselves to the collection of stories and want to publish them in a book. By doing this we hope to spread the stories to the younger generations in Baures.
For the illustration of the book and to arouse interest in the children and adolescents we organized a drawing contest in Baures. The participants were able to choose between two topics: The holiday of the village or a picture relating to one of the stories we will publish.
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To make these stories public we gave the texts to the local radio and television where they were read various times. We also talked to the art teachers of the local schools with the intention that they would get their pupils to participate. The results of this kind of promotion were successful - various children and adolescents submitted their pictures drawn with brush or pencil. They painted the brave men riding the bull during the holiday; lizard and toad thatching their houses or the bad turtle that didn´t let the snake enter her house. |
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Thanks to the collaboration of the Municipality of Baures the Drawing Contest and the exposition of the pictures formed part of the official program of the 301st anniversary of the village. The exposition was a part of the Chocolate Ferry on 10th of December on the main square. So we were able to benefit from this event that attracted lots of people. Apart from tasting sweets and getting informations about harvesting and the processing of cacao, the visitors gazed at the pictures and read the stories. |
The highlight of the exposition was the election of the winners. The organisation team of the holiday supported the contest in funding the prices. The pictures of the winners will be published in the book. In this way we will connect the stories of the grandparents with the pictures of their grandsons and -daughters and so the book will build a bridge between the generations in Baures.
Liz Vania and Heidi - winners categories "youth" and "children".
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