oral tradition
OR-ul truh-DISH-un
ˈɔːrəl trəˈdɪʃənListen
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Dictionary meaning
the transmission of cultural knowledge, history, law, cosmology, and values across generations through spoken word, song, story, and performance rather than written text; constitutes the primary knowledge-keeping system of the majority of the world's indigenous cultures and encompasses creation narratives, genealogies, protocols, ecological knowledge, and moral teaching; oral traditions are not static survivals but living, adaptive bodies of knowledge continuously interpreted by skilled practitioners; their authority is increasingly recognised in courts of law and international forums as equivalent to documentary evidence
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