Contemporary local cultures, generically referred to as “traditional,” have their own dynamics, and an important part in this is played by the relation between oral and written culture, a relation that must be considered as early as the pre‑fieldwork stage of each ethnological research. Drawing on a case‑study from Buzău region, namely the narratives of the places situated in the vicinity of villages, the paper illustrates the flexibility and the dynamic nature of a local oral culture, its dialogue and complementarity with the literate culture, as well as its adaptative nature. It does so, by presenting the characteristics of three types of orality (see Zumthor 1990) encountered in the field: mixed orality, second orality (stressing the role of the intellectuals), and mediatized orality.