During the holiday season one of the special events is that each country pavillion has a storyteller who tells the
story of their holiday. Most are Christmas centered stories, but a few are not related to Christmas. Terye and I went to the shows in Mexico, United Kingdom, China, Morocco, and Italy.
In China we saw the story of the Monkey King, as I write this months later, I don't remember much aside from it was the story of new years. But, I do remember it was hot sitting in the sun and the actor was sweating a lot. But you wouldn't have known it from his performance, it was excellent. Very lively and passionate.
Next up was the Three Kings in Mexico, this performance had 3 performers - the 3 kings and the story of Epiphany. This was another great performance.
In the United Kingdom there was Father Christmas. He was very sweet and even brought a child up to help him ring his bells.
In Italy we learned the story of La Befana, a witch and about Epiphany. This was probably my favorite of the performances, La Befana was very animated and her story was fun.
The show I enjoyed the least was in Morocco. I'm not sure if the actor was maybe a little less intense then the others, if i was just tired and seated too far away or if it's because I already knew about Ramadan. It wasn't a bad show, but so many of the other story tellers were so good thatt this paled in comparison.
To find out about show times check the times guide for Epcot. If would not be possible to see all the shows in one day, but they are often spaced that you could see 2 or 3 in a row. There was not much seating at the spots where the shows are done, so be prepared to stand or sit on the ground for the show.
I do think these are a nice way to learn about holiday traditions, the shows are typically only about 10 minutes, well performed and even the ones revolving around Christmas talk about traditions that may not be celebrated by all Christians. My suggestion would be to see at least one or two that are non-Christmas related, so as to branch out and learn about a whole different culture.
This year I hope to see a few more of these shows.
