ORAL TRADITION

Long ago, there was no television, no radio. There were no CD players to entertain people. Computers, telephones and the Internet did not exist. People couldn't travel by plane, train or automobile. Roads were primitive, sometimes impassable. Often there were no schools, and few people learned to read. Even those who did lived in badly-lit dwellings: after the sun went down, reading became difficult. What to do then for amusement, especially during the long winter evenings? Everyone told the story in his or her own way, forgetting a detail here, making up a new one there, changing the names of people and places in the story to suit the circumstances. Some stories were sung instead of spoken - and some of these songs were meant to be listened to, others were designed to get everybody to sing along. This is the way oral traditions evolved, from village to village, from country to country.

These immaterial artefacts are just as important to our understanding of the past as physical objects preserved in museums, providing valuable insights on the customs, traditions, beliefs and lifestyles of those who came before us.

The folklorists who study French oral tradition concentrate mainly on three major types of narratives: legends, which were told as true stories, folktales, which were told to entertain, and folksongs, which which reflected and commented on every aspect of daily life.
 

When and where was oral tradition passed on?

Evenings sitting around the wood stove, days toiling at domestic or agricultural work. The image of the voyageur, singing rythmic songs with his comrades to keep time with the paddle strokes, is firmly embedded in the Canadian consciousness.
 

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