mesélés

Mesélés is the Hungarian term for the act of storytelling, the art of narrating tales to an audience. The word comes from the verb mesélni (to tell a tale) and the suffix -és, forming a noun that denotes the activity. The stem mese means a tale or fairy tale, so mesélés covers both traditional narratives and other forms of telling.

In Hungarian culture, mesélés has deep roots in oral tradition. Traditional forms include népmese (folk tale), often transmitted orally across generations before being collected in written form, as well as mondák (legends) and anekdoták (anecdotes). Storytelling is common in childhood routines and in public performances, and it remains a method of moral instruction and cultural transmission.

Performance aspects include voice, pacing, intonation, gestures, and audience interaction. Historically, mesemondók (storytellers) performed in fairs, markets, and gatherings; today, storytellers work in schools, libraries, festivals, radio, and digital media.

Functions include entertainment, social cohesion, the preservation of language, and the transmission of memory and identity. In contemporary practice, mesélés appears in literature, journalism, oral history projects, and multimedia storytelling, including podcasts and video.