Painting_Agency t1_ixja9gh wrote
Reply to comment by Pornalt190425 in Lost islands cited in Welsh folklore and poetry are plausible, new evidence on the evolution of the coastline of west Wales has revealed by marketrent
> The "problem" with objectively believing folklore or oral traditions without any other evidence is that they are folklore and oral traditions.
They're not believed without any other evidence. Traditional stories can be used for "hypothesis generating"; suggesting what we can then examine using other methods.
> A story that gets retold thousands or tens of thousands of times is going to change slightly with each retelling
The link suggests that Aboriginal storytellers often have some kind of familial oath or expectation to maintain accuracy in the oral tradition. If they're keeping references to islands that no longer exist, rather than adjusting stories to fit their absence, then there must be a belief that that information is important to maintain. Even if it has no practical purpose.
Pornalt190425 t1_ixjbxca wrote
To your first point, I alluded to that in the 2nd paragraph. To your second point, which link are you referring to? I did not see anything in the article about aboriginal storytellers unless I missed it
Painting_Agency t1_ixjmeoc wrote
Sorry, for some reason I thought this was linked to in the comment we were threading.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ancient-sea-rise-tale-told-accurately-for-10-000-years/
> How could such tales survive hundreds of generations without being written down?
> “There are aspects of storytelling in Australia that involved kin-based responsibilities to tell the stories accurately,” Reid said. That rigor provided “cross-generational scaffolding” that “can keep a story true.”
Pornalt190425 t1_ixkaoi4 wrote
Thanks for sharing that it was an interesting read! I guess with the right cultural carrots and sticks you could trust the story is being more accurately carried down the generations
Painting_Agency t1_ixkhyv4 wrote
The Norse skalds recited their sagas as verse so it was easier to remember them verbatim... But they weren't maintaining that oral tradition checksum for 400 generations 😮
eternalmunchies t1_ixk3za7 wrote
Also, African griots have a similar work ethic.
Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments