Folklore

Folklore is a modern term for the body of traditional customs, superstitions, stories, dances, and songs that have been adopted and maintained within a given community by processes of repetition not reliant on the written word . Along with folk songs and folktales, this broad category of cultural forms embraces all kinds of legends, riddles, jokes, proverbs, games, charms, omens, spells, and rituals, especially those of pre-literate societies or social classes. Those forms of verbal expression that are handed on from one generation or locality to the next by word of mouth are said to constitute an oral tradition .