ABSTRACT
In preliterate societies, momentous natural events such as volcanic catastrophes are often incorporated into cultural histories as stories that are repeated over generations, thereby forming oral traditions. Modern societies assess potential volcanic hazards from several lines of physical and descriptive evidence. Of these, eyewitness accounts are fundamental to the characterisation of volcanic processes and form the basis for defining almost all of the known types' of eruption. The term oral tradition is used here to describe a range of accounts, stories, or sagas that are repeated over generations, generally within a non-literate society, until they are eventually committed to writing, either in their native tongue or, more frequently, in another. There is a wide range of opinion regarding the reliability of oral traditions as historical records, with the debate particularly sharp in the Pacific north-west of the United States. Oral traditions may have also played a major role in societal recovery from volcanic disasters.
