Join us for a cosy tea-time social to round off the year with stories, laughter, and simple games!

The SAS Social is a warm, friendly space where storytellers can practise with a receptive audience. Many of our storytellers first tested their stories at a Social – so whether you’re a seasoned teller or just starting out, this is a wonderful place to share stories, and we’d love to welcome both tellers and listeners.

We’re looking for 5–6 storytellers (first-come, first-served) with stories of up to 8 minutes. If you’d like a slightly longer slot or wish to lead a short story game, please indicate this when you register.

If you’re not telling this time, do still come along, enjoy the stories, play a game or two, and celebrate the end of the year with the SAS community.

Date: Saturday, 20th December 2025

Time: 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. (You may arrive from 1.45 p.m.)

Venue: TR 2-1 (Level 2)  Lifelong Learning Singapore Pte. Ltd.

11 Eunos Road 8, #09-01

Lifelong Learning Institute, Singapore 408601

(Nearest MRT: Paya Lebar MRT Exit A)

Click here to find out more and to register

Events in Singapore & Around the World

Written by Verena Tay, puppets mentored by Eve Tan, co directed by Regina Foo.  See you at clementi library.

Presented  as part of NHB’s Heritage Activation Nodes@ Clement, with Ngee Ann Poly.

This is a free programme that is open to all ages. Participants are encouraged to arrive 15 minutes prior to the start of the programme.

Free Online Oral Storytelling Event 

Step into a garden of tales where every bloom carries a story. From Christmas lilies to Valentine roses, birthday bouquets to farewell wreaths, flowers have long marked our most cherished moments. Join us for oral storytelling that explores the emotional threads, cultural meanings, and magical folklore woven into the world’s most beloved blossoms. Discover how national emblems, sacred flowers, and fragrant memories shape who we are—and the stories we pass on.

Join us for tales that warm the heart, lift the spirit, and remind us how small gestures can change everything. From the quiet kindness of strangers or friends, to the unexpected generosity of fools and tricksters, these stories celebrate the best in us all.

This is a free online event organised by the Australian Storytelling Guild (NSW) Come as a listener or teller. All welcome.

If you would like to tell a prepared story in 5-6 minutes, email Christine Carlton at storyaus@gmail.com  to be put on the list to tell a short flower story.  The stories are told, not read.

This is a free online event organised by the Australian Storytelling Guild (NSW) Come as a listener or teller. All welcome.

• Wednesday, 17th December 2025
• 4.20 – 7.00 pm Singapore time

Register on Humanitix to receive the Zoom link to attend the session

Monday, 8th December 2025, 8:00 am Singapore time

Click here to register for free Zoom link

• Tsunamis of Kindness

  It was the year 2004! It was Boxing Day!

  The Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami struck Mother Earth. The earthquake caused a massive tsunami with waves up to 100 feet high. Along with home and hearth the ocean took with it an estimated 230,000 people from 14 countries, mostly people from Aceh (Indonesia), Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu (India), and Khao Lak (Thailand).

  When I heard the news, my first thought was of my dad. Every day he enjoyed an early morning walk at Elliot’s Beach, India and I hoped he was safe. A quick phone call to ascertain his safety and with my worst fears quelled; my thoughts cascaded down one by one to the innumerable people known and unknown who might have been affected by the tsunami.

  Calamities will keep happening, but our strength lies in rising above them. I have heard and read innumerable stories of kindness during disasters. Let me share one that resonates deeply. 

  “Whether it is a tsunami, or whether it is a hurricane, whether it is an earthquake-when we see these great fatal and natural acts, men and women of every ethnic persuasion come together and they just want to help.” — Martin Luther King III

  Inamura No Hi — The Burning Rice Fields

  Hamaguchi lived in the village of Hiro along the shores of Wakayama Prefecture. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and life was mostly peaceful for him. He lived atop a hill that overlooked the ocean and hence got a good view of the ocean in front of his house. When he became an old man, he was lovingly called Ojiisan (grandfather)

  About 100 thatched dwellings and a Shinto temple stood around the bay. 

  One evening in autumn, the entire village was busy with preparations to celebrate their good fortune as they had reaped a bountiful harvest of rice. 

  They were busy with arrangements for the event; there was to be dance, drama and storytelling. 

  Nobori or festival banners fluttered over the roofs and paper lanterns decorated the Shinto temple. 

  Ojiisan stood outside his home admiring the enthusiasm of his villagers, grateful for their harvest. His family too was busy getting things ready for the upcoming celebrations. 

  He was alone at home with a farmhand. The heat was oppressive that day and his experience told him that it could be a warning of an impending earthquake. He went back into his house, when his house rocked gently a few times, and all was still again. He had grown up in that village, and he knew the ways of nature and the tides of the ocean. He was no stranger to earthquakes and what came after them sometimes, tsunamis!

  He was an old man now and had experienced and felt innumerable shocks in his lifetime, and this was not new to him, but he felt uneasy. Restless, he came out of his house and anxiously looked at the villagers, oblivious to anything going on around.

  He gazed at the sea. It seemed to have darkened suddenly and was moving away from the land, moving away from the wind. 

  Within a short span of time, the people of the village too sensed the change in the movement of the water. Many of them ran towards the beach to watch the phenomenon. Most had not witnessed something like that. Most didn’t think much of the receding water, nor did they attach much significance to it. 

  Hamaguchi San had never witnessed something like that before, but he recalled his ojiisan’s words and stories. He knew all the traditions of the ocean.

  He sensed the danger to his people, he did a mental assessment of the time it would take to get a message across, to get the priest of the temple to sound their huge bell.

  He realized the urgency of the situation and knew there was no time to waste. He called his young farmhand, “Quick,” he said, “Fetch me a lit pine-torch.” 

  The young lad was puzzled by the unusual request but trusting his master, he rushed and kindled a torch.  With great urgency Hamaguchi grabbed it from him and rushed to the fields, where rows upon rows of rice sheaves were standing. He reached the nearest stack and torched it; he hurried from one to the next and set them alight. 

  Like wildfire the sheaves burst into flames sending columns of billowing smoke towards the sky.

  The young lad, perplexed and petrified, ran after Ojiisan and called out, “Why? Why?” 

  Hamaguchi did not answer. He had no time to explain as his thoughts were with the lives that were in danger.

  He ordered his farmhand too to set fire to his recently harvested rice crop. Both set to work and when they reached the end of the stacks, he threw his torch and so did the farmhand and they waited. The alert acolyte of the Shinto temple noticed the raging fire and set the big bell booming. The people sensed that something was amiss and quickly responded to the appeal and like a herd of cattle they rushed up to the shrine. 

  A bunch of agile peasants rushed towards the raging fire to put it out. Hamaguchi blocked their path and stopped them. “Let it burn, let it burn. I want the entire village gathered atop the hill. Taihen da! This is an emergency!” he commanded.

  The young and old, the weak and feeble, mothers with babies strapped to their bosom soon made their way up the hill. Curious onlookers still unaware of what was happening wondered. The farmhand began sobbing and said, “Ojiisan seems to have gone mad. I saw him set fire to the sheaves of rice deliberately. He asked me to hand him a pine torch.” 

  “Is everyone here?”, asked a concerned Ojiisan

  The heads of families searched the gathered crowd and replied, “Most are here, some are still making their way up the hill and will soon be here.”

  “We do not understand this panic! What is happening?” rose a chorus of voices from the gathered crowd.

  “Look”, shouted Ojiisan, pointing to the open sea. Everyone looked. They peered through twilight and then they saw it! 

  The darkness was the returning sea, towering like a huge cliff, with the speed of a cheetah on land!

  “Tsunami!” shrieked the people! They panicked, some pushed backwards, some fell.

  Then they looked again! They saw the raging sea! They saw the waves upon their homes!

  Once, twice, thrice, five times, seven times, the sea struck and ebbed and swept with it their abode!

  And then with reduced intensity, the sea returned to its bed and stayed, still raging but not rising.

  For a while, no one spoke. They were stunned and speechless! They stared stupefied at the destruction beneath! Where was their village? Where were their fields? Where were their homes?

  Nothing but a few straw roofs, a bucket, a pail, a pan tossed around by the raging waters.

  Hamaguchi San stood amongst them almost as impoverished and needy as the rest. His wealth was gone! But he had saved most of the people in his village!

  When the intensity and reality of the situation hit them, and the fact they were alive sunk in, they were grateful for the selfless sacrifice of Hamaguchi San! His foresight and selflessness had saved a village. Tears of joy and exhaustion flowed unabashed that evening.

  They were tongue tied for a while and then words returned and action began.

   “My house remains,” said Hamaguchi San, “and there is room for many. The temple on the hill stands; there is shelter for the others there.” With those words, he walked towards his home.

  The time to rebuild took long but rebuild they did. Hamaguchi was aware of the possibility and reoccurrence of tsunamis and hence with the help of the villagers he built a mud levee called the Hiromura Levee. The levee was not high enough to stop a tsunami, but it significantly reduced the impact of the damage.

  The people of Hiro village revered him, revered his spirit! They declared him God and he was called, Hamaguchi Daimyojin! No greater honour could be bestowed upon a human.

  It’s been hundreds of years and people still pray to the spirit of Hamaguchi Daimyojin for their protection.

  “You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

  References and Notes

• Inamuri No Hi is a true story based on a real event during the 1854 Ansei-Nankai earthquake and tsunami in Hirokawa, Japan. Hamaguchi Goryo saved his village by setting fire to his harvested rice sheaves which guided the villagers to safety in the darkness. As each sheaf of rice burned it lit a path to the Hiro-Hachiman Shrine where they would be safe. 90% of the villagers survived. 
• After the earthquake he became the hero of Hiromura, he devoted his life to helping people and eventually was appointed as the first chairperson of the Wakayama Prefectural Congress.
• Hiromura Levee still stands as a testament to Goryo’s foresight and the perseverance of the village. The UN General Assembly established World Tsunami Awareness Day on November 5^th, the same date as the Ansei-Nankai Earthquake to commemorate Goryo’s selflessness and as a reminder to everyone of the importance of proper early warning systems and tsunami disaster planning. 
• Hiro Village is called Hirogawa now.
• Diamyojin means great shining illuminating deity. 
• Taihen Da -emergency.
• A Living God by Lafcadio Hearn