As a domain of oral tradition, the Pirot-style storytelling is a verbal artistic expression in prose and verse using the Pirot speech of the Serbian language (Timok-Lužnica dialect, Bela Palanka – Pirot subdialect of the Serbian language). The Pirot-style storytelling has been transmitted orally through generations and has been an expression of the national and cultural identity of Serbs in the Pirot region. It is a kind of ritual and social practice and communication within small groups and is based on traditional topical and thematic patterns. It is manifested in a large number of prose genres (traditions, fairytales, fables, stories about animals, legends, novellas, jokes, anecdotes, gags) and verse (poems that are narrated and not sung, and short forms like riddles, proverbs, toasts, etc.). Pirot narrators usually adopt their narration skills in the circle of their families and friends from the original bearers of the oral tradition and transmit it further through the same channels. They narrate at gatherings (sedenće) and ritual-related festivities, during work, or on journeys.
The Pirot-style storytelling (kazivanje, pričanje) is present in local communities in the Pirot region in southeastern Serbia.
