New Year legends in story-telling fest

Once upon a time, the God of Heaven organised a campaign to decide which 12 animals should make up the Chinese zodiac. Both the Dragon and the Rooster were selected, but the Rooster ranked lower than the Dragon because he had lent his horns to the cunning Dragon. Ever since then, the Rooster crows loudly to the Dragon every sunrise to return his horns

This is just one of the Chinese New Year legends to be narrated by mythologist and English lecturer Dr Mark Greene, in a free story-telling session.

Dr Greene, a New York City native with a Ph.D in Mythological Studies and Psychology, has been fascinated by mythology since he was a child. According to him, story-telling is an important element in mythology, which preserves culture. Thousands of years ago, only very few people could read and write. If people wanted to pass a custom on to the next generation, they would either draw pictures or tell the stories verbally.

Story-telling was not only crucial in ancient times, but is in modern times too. 'I believe story-telling points children in a positive direction by sparking their curiosity for their own culture as well as cultures from all over the world,' Dr Greene said.

'Kids have the ability to let themselves completely go into the stories. When you say a big monster growls, you will see the fear in the children's eyes. They are good at visualising things in their minds.'

According to Dr Greene, there are many similarities between Chinese and western cultures. For example, a lot of festivals are centred around food - turkey for Christmas and steamed pudding for Chinese New Year, to name just two. But most importantly, the whole family will gather together during traditional festivals for dinner, as a way of developing family bonding.