Oral Tradition in Native American Culture
The Native American culture is a very old and sacred culture filled with many traditions and beliefs. Native Americans strongly believe in values of their people, and to follow them very strictly. ... One of the most, if not the most important values to them is the one of oral tradition. In the books that were read, The Names, and Grandmother’s Grandchild oral tradition was significant. There were numerous accounts in which both authors referred to oral tradition in being an important part of their culture and went into much detail about it. Oral tradition was considered sacred and was used in many different ways. It was used in many Native American poems in which the words deeply described what the author was talking about. ... As one can see tradition meant a lot to Native people who valued it for all it was worth. However, what they valued most was oral tradition, which was one of the most noted things in the Native American culture, and was noted for good reason. Scott Momaday who was the author of The Names told many different times in which he or someone he knew used this oral tradition in one way or another. Because there is numerous ways that these oral traditions come up, there are different parts of this book where they stick out and are important. Since the book talked about nature and people, several of the oral traditions in this book consisted of the naming of objects and people. ... They are old and original in the mind, like the beat of rain on the river, and intrinsic in the native tongue” (Momaday 1). ... Most Native poems were written just like this, in which they would describe what was happening or what had happened. ... As you can see this book had many different instances of oral tradition and the various ways in which they served meaningful. ... Once Again oral tradition being one of the more dominate traditions among the Natives. ... The Natives in this book spoke the Crow language, which is just one Branch in the Native American languages.