oral tradition
a community's cultural and historical traditions passed down by word of mouth or example from one generation to another without written instruction.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use oral tradition in a sentence
Landays may be read, but true to their roots in oral tradition, they are frequently sung, sometimes with a drum for accompaniment.
Beauty and Subversion in the Secret Poems of Afghan Women | Daniel Bosch | April 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThat oral tradition of communication then gave way to the second voice, the written word with its enormous range.
How a Tweet Can Beat a PAC: Social Media Gives Voters Muscle in Politics | Mark McKinnon | April 1, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTTheir literature, if the contradiction be permitted, was handed down like their history, by oral tradition.
South American Fights and Fighters | Cyrus Townsend BradyAll religion being reduced, so far as they are concerned, to oral tradition, the devotion of each is in proportion to his memory.
The Desert World | Arthur ManginThis is a catalogue of German songs that have been heard in oral tradition but can be traced back to known authors.
A History of Bibliographies of Bibliographies | Archer Taylor
This was, likely, secretly taught by word of mouth as Qabbalah or oral tradition to the initiates, and was never put into writing.
Scarabs | Isaac MyerWhere neither written evidence nor oral tradition exist there can be little question of historic order.
A history of art in ancient Egypt, Vol. I (of 2) | Georges Perrot
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