oral tradition

American  

noun

1. a community's cultural and historical traditions passed down by word of mouth or example from one generation to another without written instruction.

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Usage

What is oral tradition? Oral tradition is the cultural knowledge and information that has been passed down through speech from one generation to the next. Oral tradition can also refer to this mode of communication.Tradition means something that is handed down from generation to generation. Oral means transmitted by speech, and it is used in the term oral tradition to specifically distinguish information passed down through speech, song, or demonstration, as opposed to writing.Despite widespread literacy and modern electronic recordkeeping, oral tradition is still the most widely used form of communication in the world.

Example Sentences

I grew up on La Llorona and the Chupacabra, that oral tradition of storytelling from my cousins, my tías, my grandparents.

From Los Angeles Times

Because of the great oral tradition in South Africa, there was a real musical passing of the baton; you would have people saying, “No, my grandmother sings this a different way.”

From New York Times

Phenology has a deep anecdotal component, based on the life-sustaining observations of plant foragers, hunters, fishermen, farmers, gardeners and naturalists and historically passed down through the generations in oral tradition and written form.

From Washington Post

In the second place they are sealed to all but those who know how to read them, and so they lie forgotten for centuries while oral tradition flourishes,—being within the reach of every man.

From Project Gutenberg

While the existence of such a personage as Gilgamesh may be admitted, he belongs to an age that could only have preserved a dim recollection of his achievements and adventures through oral traditions.

From Project Gutenberg