traditional storytelling
Passed-down tale-spinning
Traditional storytelling is the practice of narrating tales orally, passed down through generations rather than written.
It encompasses folktales, myths, legends, and family histories shared in person, often with vocal performance, gesture, and audience participation.
The phrase distinguishes face-to-face narrative arts from written literature and digital media: Traditional storytelling is making a comeback in libraries and schools.
- folktalesTraditional oral narratives
- legendsTraditional stories or icons
- folk heroesAdmired figures from tradition
- fablesDidactic animal stories
- griotsHereditary oral historians
education · myths · cultural preservation · entertainment · passing down · handed down · elder wisdom · voice modulation · repetition · call-and-response · creation stories · puppetry · trickster tales · community bonding · bedtime rituals · moral instruction · oral · spiritual connection
- folktalesfolktales, animal fables, folktale, moral fables, fairy tales
- Korean LiteraturePachinko, Korean translations, translated works, novels, literary traditions
- Maya mythologyfeathered serpent, rain god, moon goddess, sun god, world tree
- folklorefairy tales, fairytales, folktales, folk tales, folk tale
- Eastern textsBuddhist texts, Islamic texts, Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads
- Pacific craftstiki, lei, fishhook, fish hook, war club
traditional storytellingprint media
Published physical periodicals
literary fiction · published novels · printed books · academic writing · journalism
traditional storytellingmetafiction
Literature aware of itself
contemporary fiction · modernist literature · remix culture · fan fiction
traditional storytellingdigital storytelling
Narratives conveyed through electronic media
interactive fiction · video games · print media · choose-your-own-adventure · streaming content