Africa-Press – Eritrea. Every time you hear folktales, myths, poems, proverbs, and songs, do you realize that you are participating in a timeless practice that has shaped human cultures for millennia, a practice that safeguards your collective memory and forges your shared identity?
Oral tradition has been, and still is in some cultures, crucial for the continuity of communities. It is a method by which information is passed from one generation to the next through speeches, songs, and other forms of the spoken word. It encapsulates cultural knowledge and tradition that keep communities connected and their history alive.
Besides helping preserve history by providing a glimpse into the past that would otherwise be lost, oral tradition fosters the value of identity and belonging among community members. It has always been a communal activity done at a gathering around fire, where people share food and stories. It plays a very important role in preserving cultures, acting as a link between the ancestors and the present and future generations.
Oral traditions are the life blood of cultural preservation, safeguarding a community’s history, values and beliefs in a way that feels immediate and personal. Those who tell oral stories and history are highly venerated for their service as custodians of the stories of their communities.
Each of the nine Eritrean ethnic groups has its own oral traditions, including poetry, proverbs, songs, and folk tales. As part of the ongoing efforts to preserve oral traditions, a three-day panel discussion on “Tigrayt oral tradition” was held last weekend. The opening ceremony, which was held at Hotel Asmara Palace, was attended by government officials, ethnographers, ethno-linguistic experts and the elderly from Tigre ethnic group.
In his opening address, Ambassador Zemede Tekle, commissioner of Culture and Sports, emphasized on the value of people’s unity in diversity and the commission’s commitment to cultural studies of all Eritrean ethnic groups.
On the occasion, Mr. Solomon Tsehaye, a prolific writer who has done a lot of studies on oral tradition, gave an overview of the efforts that have been made since the armed struggle to ensure the preservation of the cultural heritage in all the nine Eritrean ethnic groups. He stated, “Research based on wisdom, culture and history plays a vital role in cultivating identity, strengthening unity, and deepening the society’s way of thinking, contributing to the development of the country.”
In his presentation, Mr. Mohamed Seid Osman, who did the extensive study and collected the Tigre oral tradition compiled in the book, gave an outline of the contents of the book, elaborated on the importance of preserving oral tradition and the challenges he faced while doing his research. Although the collection of Tigre poems and folk songs under the auspices of the Ministry of Education began twenty years ago, Mr. Mohamed took a personal initiative way back in 1988 in Asmat to start collecting products of oral tradition in Tigre.
The last two days of the gathering, which were held at the premises of the Commission of Culture and Sports, were devoted to discussions on the collected poems. Participants were assigned to six groups where they deliberated on 500 poems collected from all over the county where the Tigre live.
In his closing remarks Ambassador Zemede Tekle said the published collection of Tigre poems and folk songs will help preserve Tigre oral tradition and open venues for similar projects targeting other Eritrean languages.
The panel discussion created a forum for experts and community members to come together and work for the preservation of oral tradition in the form of writing and other modes of communication. It is also proof that an oral tradition is more than just entertainment. It is part of our intangible cultural heritage, a living connection to our past that is crucial to understanding not just where we came from but who we are today.
We should, therefore, work to ensure that our oral traditions are properly transcribed and stored on reliable media, making their longevity and usability certain.
For More News And Analysis About Eritrea Follow Africa-Press
