Orality Strategies - The Storying Gourd

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From Orality Strategies:

The Storying Gourd, Peru.

In a traditional Peruvian art form, artists hand carve scenes onto a gourd. Several of them were on display in a particular artisan shop. A Christian worker had been storying with the shop's owner and he asked her about the carved gourds. She said that her father is one of the people who makes these beautiful gourds. The Christian worker told her the Creation to Church story and asked her if she could have her father make one of these gourds depicting that story. The shop owner told her father the story and drew the scenes out on a piece of paper. He carved a gourd to depict this story. 

Using local art forms is an effective way to connect Scripture to the traditional culture. It's also an incentive for artists to learn and contemplate biblical truth. Scripture enters their imagination and the imagination of people who see their artwork, which becomes a ready conversation-starter for talking about the stories of Jesus.

For more on orality, read "What is Orality?" on Orality Strategies' website, plus lots of other great info there.