Editing Oral tradition (section)

====Albania====
[[File:Gjama.jpg|thumb|Men of [[Theth]] ([[Shala (tribe)|Shala]]) practicing the [[gjâmë]] – the [[Albanians|Albanian]] lamentation of the dead – in the funeral of Ujk Vuksani, 1937. The earliest figurative representations of this practice in traditional Albanian-inhabited regions appear on [[Dardani]]an funerary stelae of [[classical antiquity]].{{sfn|Joseph|Dedvukaj|2024|pp=1–3}}]]
{{Further|Albanian folklore|Albanian paganism|Albanian epic poetry|Kângë Kreshnikësh|Kanun (Albania)}}
Albanian traditions have been handed down orally across generations.<ref>{{harvnb|Elsie|1994|p=i}}; {{harvnb|Elsie|2001|p=ix}}; {{harvnb|Tarifa|2008|pp=3, 11–12}}; {{harvnb|Sokoli|2013|pp=182–184}}.</ref> They have been preserved through traditional memory systems that have survived intact into modern times in [[Albania]], a phenomenon that is explained by the lack of state formation among [[Albanians]] and their ancestors – the [[Illyrians]], being able to preserve their [[Albanian tribes|"tribally" organized society]]. This distinguished them from civilizations such as [[Ancient Egypt]], [[Minoans]] and [[Mycenaeans]], who underwent state formation and disrupted their traditional memory practices.{{sfn|Galaty|2018|pp=100–102}}

[[Albanian epic poetry]] has been analysed by [[Homeric scholarship|Homeric scholars]] to acquire a better understanding of [[Homer]]ic epics. The long oral tradition that has sustained Albanian epic poetry reinforces the idea that pre-Homeric epic poetry was oral.{{sfn|Gadamer|2013|p=160}} The theory of [[oral-formulaic composition]] was developed also through the scholarly study of Albanian epic verse.{{sfn|Blum|2023|p=91}} The Albanian traditional singing of epic verse from memory is one of the last survivors of its kind in modern [[Europe]],<ref>{{harvnb|Elsie|2014|p=1}}.</ref> and the last survivor of the Balkan traditions.<ref>{{harvnb|Di Lellio|Dushi|2024}}.</ref>