This volume shows the reflective nature of the study of folklore. The dynamics of creating histories, nations, ideologies and identities are treated in various cultural arenas and historical contexts, ranging from academic, national and literate cultures to oral traditions. The reader is invited to witness the very creation of ethnographic data in topical studies based on fieldwork. From the ethnographic encounter with folk religion, the focus shifts to mythological traditions and the study of mythology. The section dedicated to epic studies offers a comparative view on epic poetry in various cultural settings. The genre of oral or oral-derived epic studies is a textual arena in which various cultural and historical agents, ideologies and traditions meet in dialogue or in conflict. The volume concludes with four texts inspired by Siikala's studies in the cognitive and affective processes involved in narration and system of belief. Although historically and socially conditioned, the dynamics of tradition is the dynamics of the human mind in all of its faculties.