Remember how I wrote recently that a number of special days are set aside to celebrate storytelling?

I just learned (from my former student Stephanie Ryan) that today is one of them, National Tell a Story Day. The day doesn’t appear to have its own Web site, but the site Holiday Insights has this to say about it:

Tell a Story Day celebrates story-telling of all kinds. It doesn’t matter if its fiction or non-fiction, a tall tale, or folk lore. Today is a day to tell ‘em all. Stories can be from a book, other written material, or from memory.

Our research discovered two distinct holidays, one in the U.S. The other is in Scotland and the UK. The latter is by far more prominent and organized. These two holidays are exactly six months apart.

Our research did not find the creator, or the origin of this day. We do wonder why the British holiday and the U.S. holiday are exactly six months apart. We believe there is some kind of story here.

Libraries celebrate this day with story telling hours for kids. You can enjoy today telling stories to your kids, family members, or organizations and groups that you belong to.

Make Tell a Story Day an important and pleasure-filled experience. To enhance the enjoyment of the story, try setting the atmosphere. If it’s an eerie or spooky story, turn down the lights. Bring decorations and memorabilia that speak to the theme. If its about a person, display a picture of the individual.

OK, so it’s a bit late to plan a formal activity, but you can always tell a story.