Spent the better part of the day trying to recall a folklore I would put down for day 5 of the WinterABC24, but I have just glimmers and figments that don’t make sense. I nearly attempted to write about the peacock that would make food that was lost by the children in a home.

Josephine Amoako of Joseyphina’s World pointed out that we may never be able to pass on these rich stories to our kids who are so used to animations. Funny thing is, all these animations like Frozen, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty are folklore from other parts of the world.

The reason why our African folklore is disappearing is because Africa never had a Renaissance age like in the period of European history between the 14th and 17th centuries, marked by a flourishing of art and literature inspired by ancient times and by the beginnings of modern science. The closest we have to that is through festivals like the Winter African Blogging Challenge Winter ABC by Afrobloggers.

It’s at such times when we should collectively work together to put down African folklore. Unfortunately, we can only do it in European languages, but we can’t lament over that. Languages die like Latin did, but what is communicated lives on as long as it’s put on paper.

What we can’t deny is that Africa is undergoing a certain wave of renewal, and the craving for unity and storytelling is going to play a pivotal role as our story will be told by us for our interests—not these funny stories of the first man that the colonialists made up for purposes of divide and rule.

It’s through folklore that countries attain national pride and real patriotism. It’s narratives that shape every aspect of life, and as guardians of events through writing, we have a duty to research and record them down.